COMPETITION

Competition Info

There are two Competition Categories: The Vocal Group Category and The Choir Category.

Groups in each category will be given the task of arranging a chosen song decided by the festival. The specific song needs to be arranged and performed together with a free selection from each group’s own repertoire. All groups will be given 15 min. to perform in front of an international jury of vocal music experts.


Competition Timeline

The important dates

June 5th Open up for signing up for the competition
October 15th Deadline for signing up for the competition
November 15th Announcement of finalist of the competition
January 20th Deadline for finalist for purchasing festival passes
April 15th Deadline for submitting sheet music to the jury
July 1st Deadline for receiving feedback from the jury and for payment of Prizes

Competition Coordinator

Contact the Competition Coordinator Philip Eick

Philip Eick

Competition Coordinator at AAVF 2022

Mail: competition@aavf.dk


Meet the Jury

Head of Jury:
Kim Nazarian

Choir Competition:
Ben Bram
Malene Rigtrup

Vocal Group Competition:
Christine Liu
Morten Kjær


Competition Rules

Updated 2023

The rules can be subject to changes according to the board of the festival.

INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the AAVF Competition! This is a competition designed with several goals:

1. Entertain the audience.
2. Through a healthy, respectful, yet playfully competitive spirit, inspire groups to achieve new heights of artistry, technical excellence and creativity.

PARTICIPANTS
Any choir or group can apply to participate.

There are two categories:

1. Vocal groups
2. Choirs
Each category consists of a maximum of 6 competitors selected by The AAVF Competition Committee on the basis of the received material. The Committee decides exclusively whether a competitor belongs to category 1 or 2. The decisions cannot be contested.
The competition for the category Vocal Groups will take place on Saturday and the category for Choirs on Sunday.

FEES TO APPLY
There are no fees to apply.

FEES TO COMPETE
Each contestant must acquire an AAVF festival pass in order to enter the competition. The festival pass should be purchased prior to the deadline announced on the website www.aavf.dk

HOW TO ENTER
APPLICATION
Only the application form found on the website can be used and must be filled out correctly. The following must be attached:

Curriculum Vitae/description of the choir or group and the director. No more than 400 words – max 1 page as PDF.
Two photos (conductor + group), b/w or colour, defined in CMYK or RGB, 300dpi, JPG or TIFF format – any other format will not be accepted.
A recording with a rehearsal or a concert recording, mp3. A raw Left-Right recording is preferable and the music must under no circumstances be edited or manipulated. The recording should not be older than two years.
You can also send other additional information if you wish.

Deadline for registration to participate in the competition will be announced on the website.

ACCEPTANCE
We’ll evaluate your materials and email you back to let you know if your group is accepted. Deadline for this response will be announced on the website.

CONFIRM
Your participation will be confirmed after everyone in your group has purchased the AAVF festival passes. One person can purchase the AAVF festival passes for everyone in their group, or each person can purchase their own. But remember: Your group’s spot is NOT confirmed until everyone purchases their AAVF passes. If you don’t purchase right away, other groups may be accepted, leaving fewer spots than accepted groups. If other accepted groups purchase passes first, your group may be shut out of a spot. So once you receive your emailed ACCEPTANCE, purchase right away to CONFIRM your spot.

If a choir/group cancels their appearance of their own accord, it will have no right to a refund. Further details about the application can be found on the website.

TRAVEL COSTS
Travel is to be organized by the participating choirs/groups themselves, and travel costs are also to be borne by the participants. By applying to participate in the AAVF Competition, the contestants agree upon the rules and conditions as mentioned above.

WHO MAY ENTER
Any group, of (almost) any size, style or composition may enter this contest. Performers may compete in more than one group. Groups will be pre-screened by the producers of AAVF.

WHO MAY CONDUCT
Choirs may have a director conduct from on, or off-stage if they desire. Conductors may also speak in between songs if they wish, and they may sing or otherwise contribute musically. To have a conductor on stage or not is the decision of the choir and judges will not let their personal view on the use of conductors, in general, weigh in on their ruling. It is neither a plus nor a minus to use a conductor in this competition.

SIZE REQUIREMENTS
Groups may be of any size, from a minimum of just 1 person, up to a maximum limited only by the reasonable restrictions of the performance space as determined by the AAVF producers. As a guideline, most stages can accommodate a choir of 80. If you wish to bring a group of 50 or more, contact the producers and your group will be accommodated.

PROGRAMME
Compulsory piece: Immediately after being selected to the competitions the participants will receive a compulsory piece consisting of a melody with lyrics and chords. The melody has to be arranged in order to fit the choir/group. It is allowed to use a professional arranger from outside the choir/group. Besides the performance of the compulsory piece, the groups are asked to perform a free program of their choice.

TIMING
Groups shall perform for 15 minutes or less. Timing shall begin with the first deliberate sung or spoken utterance, choreography or blowing of a pitch, and shall run continuously through applause and performance until the last deliberate sung or spoken utterance, choreography or blowing of a pitch.

Technical difficulties causing delays will be credited to the performers so that the group receives their originally allotted time. Groups may use their time to perform as many or as few songs as they wish but must perform the compulsory piece.

Groups shall not be penalized for ending on time or under time. Groups may be penalized for going over their allotted time, at the discretion of the judges. The judges will not consider any music sung after the 15-minute mark. Groups are advised to plan time for brief applause after each song.

PERFORMANCE ORDER
All competing groups will receive the order in which they are performing on site on the day of the performance. Performance order will be determined at the sole discretion of the producers who may take into account any number of factors in programming including last minute travel emergencies, technical set-up requirements and creating an enjoyable and entertaining program order from an objective audience perspective.

JUDGING
Judging shall be accomplished by a panel of qualified judges with appropriate training and experience in vocal music. Each judge shall rate each group in terms of its musicality, originality and overall impact. Producers shall inform judges of all awards in advance and each judge shall choose one group for each award. The group winning the majority of the judges’ votes shall be declared the winner of that award. In the event of a tie, the Head Judge shall have a tie-breaking vote. Typically the awards could be as follows – monetary awards:

Choir Competition:
1st Place: DKK 20,000
2nd Place: DKK 10,000
3rd Place: DKK 5,000

Vocal Group Competition Awards:
1st Place: DKK 20,000
2nd Place: DKK 10,000
3rd Place: DKK 5,000

If any award considers a group of competitors who do not all appear before the exact same panel of judges, (such as competitors on different days or in different categories) then all judges shall advise the Head Judge regarding only the groups they have judged, but the Head Judge shall determine the winner. Typically the awards which are so determined are as follows:

Most Innovative Performance
Most Innovative Arrangement
If a tie shall result, the producer or producer’s nominee (typically, the Head Judge) shall resolve the issue by exercising a tie-breaking vote.

All performances must be done a cappella, but technology such as looping or octavizers of any kind are permitted. The use of instruments and pre-recorded vocal tracks are not allowed.

In case of in-ear monitoring, cue-tracks are not allowed, however click-track without a pitch is allowed.

JUDGES ONLY EXPRESS THEIR OWN OPINIONS
Each judge may comment publicly on the performing groups. These comments may be positive or negative but they should always be constructive. The comments reflect only the opinions of the individual judge making the comments and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of any other entity including AAVF or its producers, affiliates agents, volunteers, staff, etc.

REQUIRED INFORMATION
One month before the competition, groups will supply the producers with setlists indicating:

1) Titles of the pieces

2) Composers

3) Arrangers

4) Soloists

5) Vocal Percussionists

6) Whether the piece is an original song or arrangement

7) Contact information including email and phone

8) Scores for music performed. The scores must be in PDF format. In case of improvised music contact the producers.

Competitors are asked to make a table of contents on each individual score including points 1) – 6).

The AAVF producers will distribute copies to the members of the jury.

JUDGING PROCEDURE
After the completion of each performance, the judges shall make notes regarding the group. After the last group performs, the judges will confer with one another privately and each shall exercise one vote towards each award. The competitor with the most votes shall be declared the winner following the conclusion of the judging, typically at an Award Ceremony later that same evening.

Competing groups are expected to attend the Award Ceremonies on both nights. At each ceremony, a single representative from each group that performed that day will be asked to come on stage. The group winning 1st place that day will be asked to perform again at the award ceremony. The winning group may perform a set of 15-20 min minutes with songs from their competition repertoire and other songs from their repertoire. There will be a short sound check before the winner’s concert.

At the Award Ceremony, awards for most innovative arrangement and most innovative performance (or similar awards) may be given to competitors from any of the competitions from any of the days. A representative from every competing group from both days must be available to receive the award when announced.

The judges are not obligated to share their notes with competitors, however, they are encouraged to do so. For shared notes, judges are encouraged to be constructive in their comments to the participants, however, they are also encouraged to be direct and honest.

SOUND
The use of microphones is allowed. The following equipment is at the participant’s disposal:

A professional sound engineer
20 microphones (wired)
6 wireless microphones
PA system including mixer console and monitors
The participants are allowed to use own sound engineer. Groups may perform on mic or off mic at their discretion.

Requests regarding mixing and effects made to the sound engineer will be honoured where possible, including the request to enhance bass, vocal percussion, leads or to “use your best judgment”. In the absence of any contrary instructions, the engineer will be instructed to provide microphone responses of approximately equal volume and NOT to do any mixing which would affect the balance of parts during the show.

A short sound check is guaranteed for each competitor on the day of the competition.

Like performance order, sound check order will be determined by the Producers at their sole discretion.

LIGHTS
AAVF will provide a light engineer for the sound check and the performance. It will not be possible to send a light rider in advance. The light setting will be standard. It will not be possible to use a projector for visuals etc. in the performance.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
Judges must disclose to AAVF producers in advance, any potential conflicts of interest, which could be reasonably perceived as projecting even the appearance of impropriety.

The following shall not be considered conflicts:

Judge is affiliated with the same school as a competitor.
A judge has arranged or composed material for the competitor, even if for a fee.
Judge is friends with a competitor.
If a competitor believes that a genuine conflict of interest exists, the competitor must make a producer aware of the conflict IN WRITING, on behalf of their ENTIRE GROUP and PRIOR to the event. Anyone participating in the event is deemed to have waived any and all claims or complaints based on conflict of interest if they fail to abide by the complete terms of this agreement.

CONDUCT
All participants agree to abide by the highest ethical standards and not to publicly criticize the event judges, producers, staff, decisions or rules of this competition, but instead to direct any statements to the AAVF producers in private correspondence.

MERCHANDISE
At the discretion of the producers, groups may sell merchandise. Please notify the producers if your group wishes to sell merchandise. Groups are solely responsible for any taxes or other fees which may be applicable to their sales. AAVF may sell merchandise for groups, but they do so without liability.

PRODUCERS’ DISCRETION
Any open issues, vague or confusing terms, or disagreements of any kind relating to this competition shall be resolved by the AAVF producers in their sole discretion and their determination shall be final and binding on all persons.

RIGHTS
By performing and competing, and by accepting the benefits of publicity derived from appearing in the event, which all parties agree is of value, and by accepting any awards, if any, all participants agree to abide by these rules and that the producer has the following rights in addition to any others which it may have, worldwide and without any payment to group or members:

The producer and their agents or affiliates may use the name, story, recorded performance and likeness of any group or any of its members or directors or other supporting persons to promote AAVF generally, to promote vocal or a cappella or charity events, or to promote any of our programs or materials.

The producer may record in analogue or digital video, photograph, audio or by any other means, the group and/or its members and support persons for archival, promotional or distribution purposes, whether digital or analogue.

Participants and members of the audience are allowed to record in analogue or digital video as long as the stage manager asses that it is not disturbing the performance.

All participants agree to hold the producers harmless and indemnify them from any and all claims which may arise in connection with their participation in any of producers’ events, including but not limited to personal injury, intentional infliction of emotional distress, copyright infringement, trademark infringement, slander and libel.

Any portion of this contract which is deemed by a court of competent jurisdiction not to be in compliance with the law shall be modified to the smallest degree necessary to be in legal compliance and all other sections of this agreement shall not be affected thereby.

In the event that this contract is deemed to allow damages to a prevailing plaintiff, these damages shall be limited to a maximum amount equal to the entry fees paid by the competitor/participant.