Regulations

Version 1.0

1. Who may enter

• Any nationality, any country of residence, subject to any jurisdiction we are legally unable to accept payment from or pay an award to.
• No upper age limit. No requirement to be a student, to hold a qualification, or to be nominated.
• Entrants under eighteen on the closing date are registered by a parent or legal guardian, who accepts these regulations and pays the fee.
• You must be the sole performer. Accompanists are permitted, named on the entry, and not assessed.
• One entry per performer per Prize. You may enter more than one Prize if eligible for each. A parent may register more than one child.
• A previous winner of a Prize may not enter that same Prize again. They may enter a different one.
• Jurors may not enter a Prize they are judging.

2. What you submit

• One YouTube link. Public or unlisted; not private. The video must be embeddable.
• Between five and twelve minutes. Longer entries are assessed on the first twelve minutes.
• Free repertoire: one work or several, in any combination.
• One continuous, unedited take per work. Several works may be separate takes.
• The audio must be the audio of that take. No overdubbing, no separately recorded audio, no pitch or timing correction.
• The performer must be visible and in frame throughout.
• Recorded within twelve months before the closing date.
• Memorisation is not required. Scores need not be submitted.
• Live accompaniment only; backing tracks are not permitted.

3. Fees and dates

The entry fee rises on fixed published dates, set before entries open. The fee charged is the fee in force on the date you pay. Every date for every Prize is published on its page and does not move. Late entries are not accepted.

See the refund policy for what is refundable.

4. Correcting an entry

Until entries close you may correct your submission link, your repertoire and your contact details using the link emailed to you. The Prize, the edition, the fee paid and the performer's identity cannot be changed. Every change is recorded with the time it was made.

5. Assessment

Three specialists score every eligible entry independently against the published rubric. The full method, the weightings, the tie-break order and the conflict-of-interest rules are set out in the judging criteria, which form part of these regulations.

6. Disqualification

An entry may be disqualified where:

• the performance is not by the entrant, or the recording is not of the entrant;
• the audio is not the audio of the submitted take;
• the recording is edited within a work;
• the recording predates the permitted twelve-month window;
• the entrant is not the sole performer;
• the submission link is unusable when entries lock;
• the entry form materially misrepresents identity, age, repertoire or teachers.

A suspected breach is reviewed by the administrator, not by the jury, and you will be contacted and given an opportunity to respond before any decision. Disqualifications are reported with the results as a number only. We do not name a disqualified entrant publicly.

7. Awards

Each Prize awards $500 to one winner and $150 to the highest-placed entrant under eighteen. Both amounts are committed before entries open and are paid regardless of the number of entries. Awards are paid in USD by bank transfer once the winner has provided the identity and payment information we are required to hold. Any tax arising on an award is the winner's responsibility, and we may be required to withhold tax before payment depending on the winner's country of residence.

8. Publication

By entering you grant us permission to publish your name, country, instrument and declared repertoire if you are announced as a winner, and to embed the submitted performance on this site. You confirm you hold the rights necessary to allow that embedding, including in respect of any other performer appearing in the recording. Where the entrant is a minor, this permission is given by the registering parent or guardian.

Non-winning entrants are never named publicly and their entries are never published.

9. Changes and cancellation

These regulations may be corrected for error during an edition; any change is published with the date it was made, and the version in force when you entered governs your entry. If we cancel an edition, every entry is refunded in full.

10. Decisions

The jury's assessment is final and is not appealable on artistic grounds. Complaints about a procedural error should be made through contact within thirty days of the result. Nothing here limits rights you hold under the consumer law of your own country.