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Contest | Contest Guidelines

The USGB Ukulele Band of the Year Contest 2019


Rules

- Modified 11th March 2019: See Clarification in Rule 2a.
  1. General
    1. The contest shall be known as "The USGB Ukulele Band of the Year" ("The Contest").
    2. The contest shall be run by the Ukulele Society of Great Britain ("The Society")
    3. For the purposes of these rules, the term "ukulele" includes the term "ukulele banjo".
    4. For the purposes of these rules, the term "amateur" is defined as "someone who does something as a hobby and not as a job", per the Collins English Dictionary
  2. Eligibility for Entry
    1. The contest is open to all amateur local ukulele bands based in the U.K. For clarification, bands may contain an individual who is not an amateur as long as no particular emphasis is placed on that individual in the band's video (other than for the purposes of leading the band where appropriate).
    2. Bands must comprise a minimum of four persons playing ukuleles (soprano, concert, tenor, baritone, bass or ukulele banjo).
    3. Bands may contain additional persons not playing ukuleles provided that the number of such persons does not exceed 50% of the number of ukulele players.
    4. Bands which include members of the committee of the Society may participate in the contest provided always that in the event of any dispute resolution under clause 5a of these rules, such person may not be permitted to be involved in the dispute settlement.
    5. All entries must be played live without the use of any electronic devices other than amplifiers. (The use of effects such as reverb, delay, etc., is permitted).
      • Bands may not use loopers, electronic drum machines, pre-recorded tracks or any similar types of electronic aids.
      • Bands may not use any multi-tracking techniques.
    6. Videos entered for the contest must be recorded in one take. It is not permitted to edit recordings of several takes into a single video.
  3. Entry to the Contest
    1. Bands wishing to enter the contest must send their application to the Society no later than midnight on the last day of July.
      Such applications should be made by email to and must contain:-
      • The name and email address of the person making the application.
      • The name of the band.
      • A link to a web page (or Facebook page) representing the band.
      • The town in which the band is based.
    2. Bands who have entered the contest must send the Society a YouTube link for their entry no later than midnight on the last day of September.
      YouTube links must be sent by email to clearly stating the name of the band as indicated in the original application to enter the contest.
    3. Bands who have entered the contest (as in clause 3a) but fail to register a YouTube link to their entry by the closing date (as in clause 3b) shall be disqualified from the contest.
    4. It is the responsibility of the contestant bands to ensure that they have the requisite knowledge and ability to create their own YouTube link to their video entry.
  4. Judging
    1. There will be three judges appointed by the committee.
    2. Judging will be carried out in two stages:-
      • Shortlisting. Each judge will view all the submitted videos and make his/her shortlist of 6 videos to go forward for final judging. The lists of selected videos will then be merged and duplicates removed to make the final shortlist.
      • Final. Each judge will view the videos in the final shortlist and award up to ten points to each video in each of the categories of "Musical Choices", "Technical Ability" and "Presentation". The points allocated to each video by each judge will then be amalgamated to reach a total number of points for each video.
    3. The band that produced the video with the highest number of points will be declared the winner and the bands that produced the videos with the next two highest number of points will be declared runners up.
    4. Any attempt by any person to influence the judges in favour of, or against, any contestant band will result in the disqualification of the band associated with that person.
  5. Disputes
    1. In the event of any dispute related to the contest, the committee of the Society shall be the sole arbiter and decisions of the committee shall be final.
  6. Disclaimer
    1. The Society shall not in any way be responsible for any costs or other obligations incurred by any band, person or other body involved in this contest, whether such costs are incurred in preparation of an entry to the contest, or by error or ommission by any party, or by any other means.