CHARLES WOOD COMPOSERS’ COMPETITION 2026

1. Entrants must be 18 years old or older at the closing date and not previously had a composition commercially published or made available for sale on a third party website. The competition is not open to employees, or the close relatives of employees of the Charles Wood Festival or anyone else connected with the creation or administration of this competition.

2. Entrants are invited to set the following text for unaccompanied choir. Scoring may range from SATB to SSAATTBB, and optional solo lines may be included. A piano reduction may be provided for rehearsal purposes if desired, but the work must be conceived as a cappella. The composition should strike a careful balance: it should be accessible enough for amateur choirs to learn, while still offering sufficient musical interest and challenge. At the same time, it should be readily performable by professional choirs with limited rehearsal time. While expanded divisi and solo writing are welcome, composers should bear in mind that the overall level of difficulty should remain moderate. The Charles Wood Singers will be preparing a range of repertoire, and the winning piece should be suitable for a wide range of choirs, both amateur and professional. The duration of the work should be approximately three minutes.

Great Lord of Lords, supreme immortal King,
O give us grace to sing Thy praise, which makes earth, air, and heaven to ring.
O Word of God, from ages unbegun,
The Father's only Son,
With Him in power, in substance, Thou art one.

O Holy Ghost, Whose care doth all embrace,
Thy watch is o'er our race.
Thou Source of Life, Thou Spring of peace and grace.
One living Trinity, One unseen Light,

All, all is Thine, Thy light
Beholds alike the bounds of depth and height.
Amen.

The text is from Henry Ramsden Bramley (1833–1917) and was set by Charles Wood in 1912, published in 1913.  At the instigation of Sir Frederick Ouseley, Bramley originally created the words ‘Great Lord of Lords’ (a hymn for Holy Trinity) for Gibbons’ ‘Great King of Gods’ (written for King James while he was in Scotland in 1617), and this became popular after its inclusion in the Coronation service of Edward VII in 1902. 

3. Only one entry per entrant will be accepted. If an entrant submits more than one entry, only the first entry registered will be judged and any subsequent entries will be disregarded. Joint entries (entries from two or more entrants) are not eligible and will be disregarded.

4. Entrants must warrant that their entries are original, entirely their own work and do not infringe copyright or other third-party rights. The Charles Wood Festival reserves the right to contact entrants to verify this. Entries must not contain defamatory, obscene, violent or any other material that would deem the entry unsuitable for public performance. The Charles Wood Festival accepts no liability if entrants ignore these rules and entrants agree to fully indemnify the Charles Wood Festival against any claims by any third party arising from any breach of these rules.

5. All entries must be typeset by a standard music notation programme. To enter online, send the score of your piece as an Adobe PDF and where possible, an audio recording from the music notation programme,  to: charleswoodfestival@gmail.com. To ensure that the competition remains fair, please refrain from adding you name to your PDF score.

The deadline for receipt of entries is 12 noon on Wednesday 1st July 2026.

6. Each valid entry will be assessed in relation to the following criteria:

  • Compositional idea

  • Originality

  • Creativity

  • Suitability for amateur choir

  • Word setting

  • Appropriate technical ability

 7. All entries will be verified to ensure that they are compliant with the terms and conditions of this competition. Any invalid entries will be removed from the judging process at this point. Each valid entry will be assessed on the basis of the criteria outlined above. Three works will be shortlisted for consideration. The Charles Wood Festival’s selection of shortlisted entrants is final. No correspondence will be entered into.

8. The three shortlisted composers will be invited to Armagh on Thursday 20th August 2026 to hear their pieces performed by members of the Charles Wood Singers in the Archbishop’s Palace, Armagh, before the winner is chosen by a distinguished jury panel.

9. Travel expenses up to £150 and 1 night of accommodation will be offered to the shortlisted composers.

10. The winning work will be performed at the Charles Wood Festival Gala Concert on Friday 21st August 2026, and a recording will also be made.

11. The prize is as stated and cannot be deferred or transferred. There will be no cash alternatives.

12. The Charles Wood Festival reserves the right to cancel this competition at any stage.

13. The Charles Wood Festival does not accept responsibility for any technical failure, malfunction or any other problem with any server, internet access system, programme software, the postal service or otherwise which may result in any entry being lost, late or not properly registered or recorded. Proof of sending is not proof of receipt.

14. Entrants will be deemed to have accepted these rules and to agree to be bound by them when entering this competition. Entries that deviate from the terms and conditions of this competition will be disqualified.