General Directions for the Jury & Competitors
1 In the chamber music round and in the first and second rounds, competitors will perform in the order
determined by the ballot made at the start of the Competition prior to the chamber music round. There will be
a separate ballot for the Final Stage to determine the order in which each of the three final competitors will
draw in respect of the final works.
2 The members of the Jury must base their decisions solely on the quality of the performances of the
Competitors heard in the Competition and neither on any other performances they may previously have heard nor
on Competitors' reputations, those of their teachers or other matters of which they may have prior knowledge.
3 A member of the Jury must attend all sessions of every stage in their entirety and cast a vote at the end of
each stage.
4 Copies of correct editions of all scores will be available for each Jury member during each round.
5 Competitors are themselves responsible for acquiring all scores in the editions used by the orchestra.
6 Competitors who are not ready to perform when called upon to do so by the Jury may be disqualified.
7 Any Competitor who makes an attempt, or on whose behalf any attempt is made, to communicate with any
member of the Jury outside of the official feedback sessions may be disqualified.
8 Competitors must arrive no later than 40 minutes prior to their allotted competition time.
9 Competitors will be allowed to view the performances of other competitors only after they have themselves
taken part in that particular round.
Rules for Jury Meetings and Voting Procedure
1 The Principal Music Officer will be responsible for arranging meetings of the Jury.
2 The Chairman of the Jury will have the sole responsibility for conducting all meetings.
3 All prizes listed will be awarded.
4 Meetings of the Jury will be strictly private, except for the attendance of the Officers of the
Competition.
5 No member of the Jury may communicate any of the Jury's proceedings or deliberations outside the Jury
meetings to the press, public or competitors excepting that the Chairman of the Jury is required to announce
results.
6 Following the announcement of results at the end of each round, the competitors eliminated will be provided
with feedback from the Jury on their performances in the preceding round(s).
7 Chamber Music Round, Round 1 and Round 2. At the end of each round, the Leader of the orchestra, having
canvassed opinion from within the orchestra, will brief members of the jury. Following this presentation and
without any discussion, the Jury, (including the Chairman) will vote on the Competitors to be admitted to the
next stage. Votes must be recorded on the voting papers provided and signed by each Juror.
All votes will be secret and will remain confidential.
12 Competitors will pass from the Chamber Round to the First Round.
6 Competitors will pass from the First round to the Second (Semi-final) Round.
3 Competitors will pass from the Semi-final to the Final Stage.
The Jury may not, individually or as a body, revise these numbers.
In the ballot at the end of the Chamber Music Round, each member of the Jury will have a number of votes equal
to the number of Competitors to be passed to the First Stage. No Competitor may be given more than one vote by
any member of the Jury. At the end of the First Round and Semi-final Stages, a similar ballot will take place,
each member of the Jury having a number of votes equal to the number of Competitors to be passed to the next
stage.
(a) The number of votes cast for each Competitor shall be counted. The total number of votes cast for each
Competitor shall be expressed as a percentage of the number of Jurors voting. Should any voting paper prove
to be technically invalid, it shall be the duty of the Principal Music Officer to assist the Juror to correct
it.
(b) The counting of the votes will be the responsibility of the Principal Music Officer and will be performed
in the presence of the Jury.
(c) In the event of a tie for the last places to be filled, a second ballot will be held for those Competitors
involved in that tie to select the required number of Competitors. Each Juror will have a number of votes equal
to the number of places remaining to be filled, all of which must be used. If the result remains indecisive, the
Chairman of the Jury shall use a casting vote to decide between the tied competitors.
(d) The Principal Music Officer will announce the final results of each of the three stages to the Jury. There
can be no re-vote or discussion after this announcement. The names of the successful Competitors shall be
announced in alphabetical order without any indication of the number of votes cast or of percentages or of
ranking within the list.
8 Final Stage
All prizes must be awarded.
The award of all Prizes in the Final Stage will be based on the performances of the Competitors in all stages
of the Competition. The leader of the Orchestra of Opera North joins the Jury for the final stage and casts
one vote on the Orchestra's behalf.
First Prize Winner. A simple ballot, for the winner of the First Prize only, shall be made, each member of the
Jury having one vote. A simple majority expressed as a percentage as in previous Stages will suffice. In the
event of a tie between two Competitors, the Chairman will cast a vote to exclude one of them and the First
Prize shall be awarded to the remaining competitor. The remaining two Competitors in the Final Stage are thus
automatically awarded Finalists' Prizes without an expressed preference order being ballotted for or
announced.
There can be no appeal against the decisions of the Jury after their announcement by the Chairman.
