RULES AND REGULATIONS
§ 1
1. Organized by Henryk Wieniawski Musical Society of Poznań in cooperation with Polish Union of Artist Violin Makers and Museum of Musical Instruments, branch of National Museum in Poznań, 12th International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Maker Competition, shall be held in the category of the violin between 8 and 14 May 2011.
2. The Competition is open to professional violin makers of all ages and nationalities. However, first prize winners at previous editions of International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Maker Competition and closest relatives of members of the Jury are not eligible to participate in the Competition.
3. To be eligible to participate in the Competition, candidates must submit their application by 31 January 2011 on the form enclosed in the present Rules and Regulations.
4. Application fee of 50 Euro or its equivalent in convertible currency per instrument is decreased by 50% when an instrument is personally delivered to the Competition Office. Application fee is non-refundable in case of withdrawal from or inability to participate in the Competition.
Application form should be complete with proof of remittance of application fee to the account of the Musical Society:
BZ WBK S.A. I/O Poznań
Account no.: 82 1090 1463 0000 0000 4600 4297
IBAN PL
SWIFT WBK PP L PP
The application form can also be submitted online through the following e-mail: violinmaker@wieniawski.pl
§ 2
Eligible for participation in the competition is a violin that constitutes an original piece of work, remains property of the Competition participant, was not built earlier than 2008, and has not been awarded prizes at other competitions.
In line with the tradition of the violin-making art, the Jury of the Competition considers its duty and obligation to exclude from the competition:
1. instruments that bear signs of mechanical processing, 2. instruments of eccentric shapes and colours,
3. instruments whose appearance deliberately imitates this of old instruments,
4. instruments built of materials other than wood.
§ 3
Each participant of the Competition is entitled to submit a maximum of two violins. Should the jury, upon announcement of the results and opening the envelopes containing names of violin makers, determine that more than two instruments have been submitted for the Competition by the same author, all instruments submitted by the violin maker are automatically disqualified and their participation in the Competition deemed null and void.
§ 4
The Competition is anonymous, hence all the participating violin makers are obliged to fulfil the following requirements:
1. A trustee has to be appointed under whose name an instrument shall be submitted.
2. A card bearing the mark of the violin maker should be attached to the scroll of the instrument (if two instruments are submitted, marks attached to both instruments should be different). The mark should be entered in Roman characters. Any additional marking is inadmissible and results in disqualification of the instrument.
3. The parcel containing the instrument should also include a sealed envelope ”A” labelled with the same mark as the card attached to the scroll of the instrument. The envelope should contain the following data:
a) name, surname and nationality of the violin maker,
b) permanent address, telephone no., fax no., e-mail address,
c) year and place of violin construction,
d) original violin maker certificate,
e) brief CV and two legibly signed colour photographs with consent for their publication,
f) two colour photographs of the submitted instrument (frontal and rear view) , not smaller than 9x12 cm,
g) authorization to perform minor repairs if these prove necessary to make participation of the instrument in the Competition possible. Potential repairs shall be performed exclusively by the Custodian of Competition Instruments, a professional violin maker who does not participate in the Competition.
4. A second, unsealed envelope “B” labelled with the same mark and containing spare strings of the same type as those used on the instrument should also be included in the parcel. Type of strings used on the instrument remains maker’s choice.
5. A person authorized by the Organizers of the Competition supervises assignment of numbers to all instruments, as well as becomes depositary of the list containing numbers and marks of particular instruments.
§ 5
Location of the sound post should be delicately marked in pencil on the back board of the instrument to enable the Custodian of Competition Instruments to properly place it in cases of its displacement or overturning.
§ 6
1. Upon submitting the application form, by 1 March 2011 all participants shall receive confirmation of participation in the Competition, as well as information on delivery of instruments.
2. Instruments should be submitted for the Competition by 7 April 2011.
3. In case of personal delivery, the trustee must deliver the instrument(s) to the Organizers by 3 p.m. on 27 April 2011.
4. Instruments should be delivered in a manner that makes their return in the original packaging possible. A mark of the maker and card containing address of the sender (individual or company) should be included in the packaging. The card shall be used as the address to which the package shall be returned after the Competition. Dispatch takes place at the participant’s expense.
§ 7
Participant of the Competition should at his own expense insure the instrument for the period of transportation to and from Poznań, Poland. During presentation of the instruments in Poznań, Organizers of the Competition provide insurance to the equivalent of 5,000 EURO.
§ 8
Withdrawal of submitted instruments is not possible prior to the end of the Competition.
§ 9
1. The Jury of the Competition consists in outstanding Polish and foreign violin makers and virtuoso violin players.
2. Composition of the Jury shall be made public prior to the opening of the Competition.
3. The Jury observes the principle of full authorship anonymity throughout the entire period of the Competition.
4. Detailed course of the proceedings of the Jury, as well as criteria for judgement are specified in autonomous “Rules and Regulations of the Proceedings of the Jury”.
5. Decisions of the Jury are irrevocable.
§ 10
The Competition, whose main objective of is to select instruments of outstanding acoustic qualities, as well as ones exhibiting supreme violin-making artistry, has the following course:
1. In Stage 1, violin-maker members of the Jury perform a general overview of the submitted instruments to eliminate those that do not meet the criteria set out in the present Rules and Regulations, do not exhibit qualities of artistic workmanship, and represent low level of craftsmanship.
2. In Stage 2, members of the Jury pronounce individual judgements on instruments admitted to this stage: violin makers judge the violin-making qualities, and musicians judge the functional-acoustic properties. At this stage of the Competition, members of the Jury apply the following scoring criteria:
Violin makers: 1-100 points
a) technical merit: 1 – 25 pt.
b) assembly, preparation for play: 1 – 20 pt.
c) aesthetic qualities of varnish: 1 – 25 pt.
d) general stylistic quality: 1 – 30 pt.
Musicians: 1-50 points
a) volume of sound (1-3 points per string): 4 – 12 pt.
b) tone of sound (as above): 4 – 12 pt.
c) ease of sound emission (as above): 4 – 12 pt.
d) equal sound volume of strings (1-3 points between strings): 3 – 9 pt.
e) playing comfort (height of strings, nut, smoothness of neck, neck bracket, boards and finger board), individual properties): 1 – 5 pt.
The total score of Stage 2 is the sum of the violin-making and acoustic-functional scores.
Instruments awarded by each member of the Jury a minimum of 70 points for violin-making qualities, and 30 points for acoustic-functional properties are admitted to Stage 3 of the Competition.
However, should the number of instruments awarded the above minimum scores be insufficient, the pool of instruments admitted to Stage 3 can be complete with instruments of highest scores which did not receive the minimum of 70 points for violin-making qualities, and 30 points for acoustic-functional properties.
Based on the highest scores awarded in Stage 2, the Jury shall determine the number of instruments admitted to Stage 3 of the Competition.
3. In Stage 3 of the Competition, the Jury in its full composition performs acoustic evaluation of instruments in stage conditions. In this part of the Competition, invited solo violin players perform to the accompaniment of the piano (chamber hall) and orchestra (grand concert hall). Auditions are open to the public.
4. The sum of the violin-making and acoustic-functional scores of Stage 2 and the average acoustic score of Stage 3 shall determine the order of award-winning instruments.
§11
Results of the Competition shall be announced in mass media.
§ 12
1. The following statutory prizes are established:
1st Prize: 12,000 Euro
2nd Prize: 10,000 Euro
3rd Prize: 8,000 Euro
Prize winners receive honorary diplomas.
2. The Jury has the right to alter the number and order of prizes, provided that the total value of prizes is not increased, and the value of particular prizes is not lower than this specified in par. 1 above.
3. Instruments awarded financial prizes become property of the Violin Family Collection of the Polish Union of Artist Violin Makers (ZPAL) and Henryk Wieniawski Musical Society of Poznań.
§ 13
Furthermore, the Jury awards:
1. Medal of Polish Union of Artist Violin Makers for the instrument of highest violin-making qualities.
2. Medal of Henryk Wieniawski Musical Society of Poznań for the instrument of highest acoustic qualities.
3. The ”Zloty Groblicz”, a special prize awarded by the National Museum in Poznań for the most outstanding artistic personality of the Competition.
4. All other financial and non-financial prizes awarded by institutions or private persons should be presented to the Secretariat of the Competition by 8 May 2011. Prizes accepted by the Organizer of the Competition are regarded as extra-statutory. Financial awards are paid in the currency in which they have been deposited.
§ 14
1. Upon determination of the results of the Competition based on awarded scores, names of violin makers and instrument marks are disclosed. All participants of Stage 3 are presented with diplomas of participation.
2. Prize-Giving Ceremony, as well as Gala Concert performed on the award-winning instruments shall be held on 14 may 2011.
§ 15
1. Exhibition of award-winning instruments, as well as those admitted to Stages 2 and 3 of the Competition shall be held at Museum of Musical Instruments in Poznań between 15 May 2011 and 12 June 2011.
2. In respect of participation in the exhibition, the Organizers do not collect any charges from nor pay any fees to exhibitors.
§ 16
The Secretariat of International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Maker Competitions and Museum of Musical Instruments in Poznań reserve the right to free-of-charge preparation and publication of photographic and television images of the award-winning instruments.
§ 17
Any disputes arising in relation to submission of an application and participation in the Competition, are subject to jurisdiction of a competent court in Poznań, Poland, and the Polish language version of the present Rules and Regulations take precedence.
§ 18
All correspondence should be sent to:
Biuro XII Międzynarodowego Konkursu Lutniczego
im. Henryka Wieniawskiego
ul. Świętosławska 7
PL 61- 840 POZNAŃ, POLAND
tel. / fax no. + 48 61 852 26 42, 852 89 91
violinmaker@wieniawski.pl
www.wieniawski.pl
