Illinois Music Society Competition Procedures

Illinois Music Society, LLC

Illinois Music Society
Annual Competition

October 18, 2025

Registration
August 20-September 20, 2025

Competition Procedures

(Updated, July 2025)

1. All events must start on time. Competitors must arrive 15 min earlier warmed up and ready to perform. Please wait in the hallway until the judge invites your class to come in. Students and their families will be greeted by the judge at the beginning of the class. Students who have proof of residence in another state or proof that they live more than 100 miles away will be competing on zoom or facetime and need to log in 10 minutes before the event.

2. Sheet Music: Students must have the original sheet music at the event, and open the page where their song is. For legal downloads, the proof of ownership must be visible at the bottom of the first page. For free downloads, please submit the page from the website which has the title of the song being performed. Students not having original music will be able to perform for comments only. Student name must be written on top of the first page and the measures must be numbered.

3. Students are required to stay in the room for the entire event.

4. During the competition event:
        - The judge greets the participants and their families and briefly introduces themselves (2-3 minutes);
        - Family and friends are welcome to sit in the same room with the competitors. They are not allowed to interfere or in any way participate in the event;
        - In order to keep events running smoothly, please refrain from conversation with the judge;
        - Judge calls the first participant who will introduce themselves and their song;
        - Listeners are welcome to applaud after a student finishes the performance;
        - Judge calls the next participant and this process is repeated until all students finish performing;
        - When all participants are done performing, the judge will take a brief time to finish the scoring and distribute the score sheets to the students.

5. Awards:
        - The students are awarded trophies for 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place. Other contestants receive ribbons, and every student receives the participation certificates. The first placed performers in every class receive the $25 monetary award. This will be a check written out to the parent’s name and given to the teachers to distribute to the parents.
        - If the song is not memorized, the student is not eligible to place among the top 3.
        - Students will make arrangement with their teachers to pick up the awards, which will be available 2 weeks after the event.

Please let us know if you have any additional questions.