Prizes and Cash Prizes with a total value over $10,000
1st Prize - $1500
2nd Prize - $200
3rd Prize - $100
Guitar Contest (Round One on Friday and Finals on Saturday):
1st Prize - Bourgeois Country Boy guitar - List $3095
2nd Prize - Martin DXM - List $699
3rd Prize - Breedlove C25 Travel guitar - List $449
Banjo Contest (Round One on Thursday and Finals on Friday):
1st Prize - Deering Sierra banjo - List $2478
2nd Prize - Washburn B16 Banjo - List $1099
3rd Prize - Deering Goodtime Banjo - List $438
*2nd prize in the banjo category is provided by Morrell Music, second prize
in the guitar category is provided by Lloyd's Music Mart, and 1st and
3rd prizes in the guitar and banjo categories are provided by East
Tennessee Musicians Supply (www.bluegrasssupply.com).
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- Contestants in both band and individual instrument contests must perform in a bluegrass
style: Example-guitar contestants should use a flatpick and banjo contestants should use
2 finger picks and a thumb pick, etc....
- Contestants in the band contest should use typical bluegrass instruments: banjo, guitar, dobro,
fiddle, electric bass, acoustic bass, or upright bass, fiddle, and mandolin.
A band does not need all these instruments but no other instruments are allowed.
- Bluegrass band entrants must include at least three different instruments.
- Acoustic pickups are allowed for guitars and bass guitar only during band competions. All
other electric instruments (other than electric bass) are prohibited. No pickups are allowed
for banjo or guitar during individual instrument competitions.
- Profanity or vulgarity in any form will not be tolerated in any Bluegrass in the Smokies contests.
Violation of this rule will result in disqualification and expulsion from contest and from festival
grounds.
- No performer who has ever been hired at the Bluegrass in the Smokies festival will be illegible to
enter any contests.
- All entrants must purchase festival tickets for the day of their contests in order to enter.
- All decisions by judges are final. Furthermore, contests will in no way be judged by members of
The Fritts Family. Contests will be judged strictly according to said criteria listed below.
- The judging committee reserves the right to disqualify any performance not in keeping with
said rules and a general bluegrass style. No medleys are permitted.
- A contestest may bring one accompanyist on stage with them. This can be a bass or rhythm guitar
player only. However, said accompanyist cannot be or have ever been a paid Bluegrass in the
Smokies performer.
- To enter any contest, contestants must sign up at least two hours in advance. However, Bluegrass
in the Smokies contests can only accomodate a so many entries and we reserve the right to limit
the number of contestants as time constraints may warrant.
See pre-registration options listed below.
- All contestants must report to the contest stage at least 15 minutes before their specific contest is
scheduled to begin.
- All contestants should be prepared to play up to 4 songs. In, the preliminary rounds contestants
will be ask to play either one or two selections. If a contestant makes it to the finals they will
also be required to purchase a ticket on the day of the finals and to play two different songs
than the one or ones that they played in the preliminary round.
- Guitar and banjo contest participants must play only instrumental music (no vocals!). However,
band contestants must include at least one vocal number per performance. For instance, if they
are asked to play 2 songs in the preliminary round, they could either play a vocal and an
instrumental or two vocals. If they are only asked for 1 song it must be a vocal. Also,
bands must play at least one vocal if they are selected for the finals.
- In all contests songs should be no longer than 3 minutes and 30 seconds (3:30) each.
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Flyer
Flyer
or (865) 453-7299
or (865) 453-7299
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Flyer
Flyer
- A contestant may pre-register for any of these contests by calling (423) 345-3510 and asking to
reserve a spot. However, a ticket must be purchased at that time for the date of said contest.
The cutoff date for contest pre-registration is Thursday, August 16th, 2007.
30 points - Stage Presence/Audience Responce
(The ability to connect with an audience is imperitive for a good performance.)
30 points - Execusion/Difficulty Level
(This category considers number of missed notes or mistakes, level of difficuly,
and tuning, etc...)
30 points - Originality/Creativity Factor
(Ex. Is the song in your style of someone else's? Is the arrangement yours or
is it someone else's?)
10 points - Compliance with Contest Rules
(Ex. Did the song fit within proper time constraints? etc...)
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