Guitarist Of The Year 2011

After much toing and froing, the Guitarist Of The Year competition has been rescheduled and will now go ahead - all original entries will be considered, while there's a last final chance for you to submit your entry.

Britain's got guitar talent - and Guitarist is going to find it! The Guitarist Of The Year competition was due to run at last year's London Music Show. The show itself was cancelled, so we've secured an amazing slot for the finals, at London's Royal Festival Hall during the London Guitar Festival 2011! We've also extended the entry dates, so you have one last opportunity to enter for a chance to win fantastic prizes, and to battle it out at one of three live finals held at the London Guitar Festival on 3-4 June 2011 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank, London.

The Competition

Guitarist Of The Year is actually three competitions in one -

Young Guitarist Of The Year sponsored by Blackstar Amplification (open to GB residents aged 16 or below on 3 June 2011)

Guitarist Of The Year sponsored by Vigier Guitars (open to GB residents aged 17 and over on 4 June 2011)

Acoustic Guitarist Of The Year sponsored by Takamine Guitars (open to all GB residents on 4 June 2011)

The final of each competition will take place on the days specified above, at the London Guitar Festival 2011.

How To Enter

All you have to do to enter is send an MP3 of an original composition, either with or without backing track, that's no more than four minutes long. An independent judging panel will judge all the competition entries based on four criteria: composition, technical ability, taste and feel, performance and delivery. The panel will then prepare a shortlist of five finalists for each competition, which will be announced on Guitarist.co.uk. The finalists in each competition will then face off in one of three live finals before a panel of expert judges and industry figures.

The winner will win some amazing prizes courtesy of the sponsor of each category, and will enjoy the prestige of being crowned Guitarist Of The Year. The winners will also be featured in Guitarist magazine and will have the chance to open Guitarist Of The Year 2012.

To enter, click here.

Before entering, be sure to read the Terms & Conditions very carefully by clicking here.

Important - if you are under 18, a parent or guardian must consent to you entering the competition on your behalf.

The closing date for entries to Young Guitarist Of The Year, Guitarist Of The Year and Acoustic Guitarist Of The Year is 6pm GMT, Saturday 30 April 2011.

The shortlist will be announced at the Guitarist website on 11 May. Good luck!

Guitarist Of The Year Competition Rules

By taking part in this competition, you agree to be bound by the Competition Rules and by the decisions of Future Publishing Limited ("Future") which are final in all matters relating to the competition. Future reserves the right to disqualify any entrant and/or winner in its absolute discretion for any reason and without notice in accordance with the competition rules.

1. The Organiser
The organiser of the competition is Future.

2. Eligibility
By entering the competition, you agree to be bound by the following rules, and also Future's website terms and conditions and privacy policy. The categories and age limits are as follows:

Guitarist Of The Year - open to GB residents aged 17 and over on the day of the final


Young Guitarist Of The Year - open to GB residents aged 16 and under on the day of the final


Acoustic Guitarist Of The Year - open to all GB residents

If you are under 18, a parent or guardian must consent to you entering the competition on your behalf. A consent form can be found here.

The participant must submit an original composition of no longer than four (4) minutes in length, performed either solo or over a backing track. The backing track must be an original composition by the participant or a generic Guitarist magazine CD backing track, not a famous song.

A composition that has won a prize in a major national or international competition or that has been entered into such a competition where the results are still pending, is not eligible for entry.

A composition that has previously been featured in Guitarist magazine or any other guitar magazine is not eligible. Each entry will be judged on the following four criteria: composition, technical ability, taste and feel, performance and delivery.

There is no entry fee associated with the Guitarist Of The Year 2011 competition. All entrants agree to participate in any publicity in connection with this competition and to the use of your name for the purpose of promotion and publicity.

Employees and/or freelance contributors of Future and its group companies, and any of the official partners, sponsors, or associates of Future relating to the competition and their families are not eligible to enter this competition.

3. Legal requirements & copyright

By submitting an entry into the competition, you:

Confirm that your composition is original, has not been copied and does not infringe anyone else's rights;


Confirm that neither your recorded performance nor, if you reach the Finals stage of the competition, your live performance of the composition shall be obscene or offensive. 
Accept that all entries will become the property of the Company upon receipt and will not be returned. You will retain all rights you have in the copyright and other intellectual property rights comprising the composition but, by entering the competition, you grant Future and its licensees the right free of charge to reproduce your compositions; 


Waive any moral rights or similar rights you have in your composition whether such rights arise pursuant to the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988 (the "Act") or equivalent legislation anywhere in the world.
If anyone other than you has any rights in your composition, the entries will be disqualified. It is the legal responsibility of the entrant, and not Future, to ensure they comply with these ownership and copyright requirements and own the rights to reproduce their images.

Entries that do not fulfil these criteria will be deemed ineligible and disqualified. 
Future does not make any claim on your rights to your compositions. You will retain copyright and where any of your compositions are reproduced, you will be credited.

4. Mechanics of Entry & Closing Date


Entries must be submitted in accordance with the instructions set out on the entry page [insert entry page link]. 
All entries must be received by Future no later than 6.00pm GMT, Saturday 30 April 2011. 
Late or incomplete entries will be disqualified.

Proof of posting (if relevant) shall not be deemed proof of delivery.

No responsibility can be accepted for entries which are lost, delayed, misdirected or corrupted during delivery to the place specified for any reason whatsoever.


Entries must be submitted by an individual (not via any agency or similar) and, unless otherwise stated, are limited to one per household.

5. Judging, Notifications & Finals


Up to five entries may be short listed for the live finals in each category. Short listed finalists will be notified by 9 May 2011 and the list will be announced on the Guitarist website on 11 May 2011.


The live finals for each category will take place at the London Guitar Festival at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank, London on 3-4 June 2011.


It is a condition of entering the competition that you must be able to attend the live finals.

Travel to attend the finals shall be at the entrant's own cost.

Future will appoint an independent judging panel to determine the short-listed entries. The live finals will be decided by an independent panel of judges, and may include a live vote from members of the audience. The decision of the judges in determining the short-list in each category and the outcome of the voting at the live finals will be final. Future will not enter into any correspondence regarding the judging or organisation of the competition.
Winners for each category will be announced in a future issue of Guitarist magazine.

6. Prizes


The prize awarded to the winner in each category shall be exclusive guitar-related gear, coverage in Guitarist magazine and at www.guitarist.co.uk, plus the chance to open Guitarist Of The Year at the 2011 London Music Show.

Future reserves the right in its sole discretion to change or add to the prizes and substitute with cash or a prize of comparable value. If the quality of entries falls below the required standard, Future reserves the right not to shortlist any entries for finals.

If you are a winner of the competition: 


The receipt by you of any prize is conditional upon you complying with any and all applicable laws, rules and regulations including, without limitation, the competition rules; 
* you acknowledge and agree that neither Future or any competition sponsor(s) or any of their employees, agents or subcontractors shall have any liability to you whatsoever in connection with your use and/or possession of your prize, provided that nothing in these Competition Rules shall exclude or limit the liability of any party for personal injury or death caused by negligence or for anything else which cannot be excluded or limited by law.

7. Reproduction of entries


By entering your composition into the competition, you grant to Future and any of the official partners, sponsors or associates of Future relating to the competition a worldwide, non-exclusive, irrevocable licence throughout the world for a period of three years from the date on which the results are announced to reproduce the composition or any part thereof for any purposes in connection with promoting the competition including, but not limited to, the following purposes:



a) judging the competition;


b) inclusion in Guitarist magazine, in Future's other music-related magazines and on Future's music-related websites, including www.guitarist.co.uk and www.musicradar.com;


c) displaying audio or video footage of the winners and runners-up at public exhibitions promoting the magazine and/or the competition;


d) inclusion of winning and runner-up entries in television or online coverage connected with the magazine, the competition and / or any exhibition;


e) inclusion within marketing and promotional materials (including emails, websites and press packs) for the magazine, competition and / or any exhibition;


f) sub-licensing the entries to the Future's licensees for reproduction in connection with the competition;


g) allowing viewers of any website on which the entries are made available to view images on a computer screen, PDA or mobile telephone and store such pages in electronic form for their personal, non-commercial use;


h) reproduction on Guitarist Of The Year / Young Guitarist Of The Year / Acoustic Guitarist Of The Year merchandise;


i) being chosen and entered into promotional competitions by Future for marketing and promotional purposes.

8. Liability


Entries are uploaded at your own risk and Future regrets that it cannot accept responsibility for anyone else copying or using the entries submitted to the website.

9. Data Capture


By entering a Competition you:

To grant the Company, any third parties appointed by the Company for the purpose of organising and/or managing the Competition and the Competition sponsor(s) permission to use your name and likeness for the purpose of organising and/or managing the Competition, for announcing the winner of the Competition and for related promotional purposes; and

To grant the Company and any Competition sponsor(s) the right to use your personal information to send you information about their respective products and services which may be of interest to you, unless you are 17 years of age or less, in which case your personal information will not be used for any purpose other than for organising and managing the Competition. If you are 18 years old or over and do not wish to receive this information, please follow the instructions given.

10. General

10.1 These competition rules and competition are governed by English law. Any disputes arising between Future and any third party in relation to these competition rules and/or a competition shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales (save that Future shall be entitled to take action against a third party in any other.

10.2 If there is any inconsistency between any of the provisions of these rules, Future's terms and conditions and Future's privacy policy, these rules shall take priority.

10.3 If any of these rules are deemed to be illegal, invalid or otherwise unenforceable, the affected rules shall be deleted from these Competition Rules but the remaining rules shall continue in full force and effect.