Entry Guidelines

  1. This opportunity is open to all singer/songwriters aged 16+ at August 1st 2008. There are no restrictions on musical style or creative direction. Applications are invited from any part of the world although the song submitted must be delivered in English.
  2. You must upload following the instructions on this site a video of yourself performing one original song, using any instrument, of a maximum of five minutes in length to this website.
  3. You must be seen to be performing live and the entire performance must be one continuous and static shot with no editing or post-production. In addition you must accompany yourself and no band or backing tracks or commercial videos will be eligible.
  4. You will be able to upload your video until the new date of Sunday July 27th; after this date it will not be possible to upload entries .
  5. Together with the entry, all applicants will have to submit a valid email and home address and complete an online application form including agreement to the competition terms and conditions, a short biography (100 words), a lyric sheet and a personal statement (300 words) about why they feel they should win the Award.
  6. During the ‘Live Period’ all visitors to the dedicated website will be able to view any entrant’s video submission, lyrics and biography but not the personal statement
  7. The closing date for submissions is the end of the ‘Live Period’ – now extended to Sunday July 27th. After this date it will not be possible to upload entries.
  8. Once the ‘Live Period’ is complete, there will be a public voting period of two weeks, between Monday July 28th and Sunday August 10th.
  9. All members of the public who wish to vote will have to register with a valid email/password. Each artist they vote for will receive a single point. They can vote for as many artists as they like but cannot vote for any one artist more than once.
  10. There will be no charge to vote in the competition.
  11. In addition to the public voting, a panel of expert judges provided by the partners will also judge the entries.
  12. At the end of the public voting period, the top ten scoring entrants from a combination of the public and panel voting will then go through to the final round. At this point they will be contacted directly by a member of the Institute admissions team and they must confirm that, if they should win, they can commit to a full year’s study on the course. K. T. Tunstall will pick the final winner plus two runners-up from this final group of ten.
  13. An award ceremony for the winner and runners-up may be held in London, if all parties can be available simultaneously, at a date to be arranged prior to the commencement of the course