Jury Rules

Repertoire 

All competitors will adhere to the Competition Rules and Regulations as described here and perform the Repertoire described below.

The competition reserves the right to change the performance order for the semi-finals and finals, as decided by the President of the Jury and Concerts Director in order to present a balanced programme in each case.

Time-limits 

All time - limits will be strictly adhered to. A timekeeper will be assigned to the jury for both the first and second stages. Competitors will be stopped if they exceed the time limit by more than one minute. 

Jury Duties 

The main jury consists of seven members chaired by Professor Vanessa Latarche – President of the Jury.

The jury briefing will take place at 3pm on Wednesday 25 February 2026 at Fairlight Hall. 

Jury proceedings and voting are confidential and jurors should not discuss any aspects of the candidates’ performances with each other or with any third parties, either in person or electronically, except at the feedback meetings which will be arranged with candidates who are eliminated (as noted below). All Jury decisions are final, and no discussion or correspondence will be entered into regarding the decisions. 

Jury members are expected to maintain a neutral manner when listening to competitors, and refrain from any comment or demonstrative behaviour during performances, out of respect for the candidates. 

The Jury Manager calculates the results, assisted by the Concerts Director and President of the Jury, to ensure absolute fairness and accuracy. 

It is the responsibility of the President of the Jury to announce the decision of the jury by reading the names of the competitors progressing to the next round at the end of each round in performance order. The President of the Jury also announces the final results and prizes. The finalists must be present for the final result announcement and presentation.  

Should a pianist, their teacher, or member of the public attempt to communicate with a juror either in person, electronically or in any other manner during the competition, the juror must inform the Jury Manager. Failure to do so may result in disqualification at the discretion of the President of the Jury in consultation with the Jury Manager. 

Voting Procedures and Rules 

1. Conflict of interest: Current or former students (of the last three years) of the President of the Jury will not be permitted to take part in the competition. Any other juror who has a student participating in the competition must declare this at the jury briefing and will not be permitted to vote for their own current or former students (of the last three years).  All jury votes will be counted and quantified as the ratio between the total number of votes received per competitor, and the number of jurors eligible to vote for that competitor. A competitor is not considered to be a student of the jury member if they have participated in a masterclass/single lesson/online lesson with them. 
   

2. Individual jury voting lists are not available to other jury members or to the general public. 
    

3. After the first stage each juror will be asked to complete a form indicating the 20 performers they would like to vote ‘yes’ for plus 3 additional ‘maybe’ votes, subject to rule 1. If ties occur for the last places to be filled, then the jury will rank the tied competitors in a second ballot, subject to rule 7. If ties occur after the ranking, a third ballot will be held to decide between the tied competitors. If the result is still indecisive after the third ballot, the President of the Jury will have the casting vote. 
    

4. After the second stage each juror will be asked to complete a form indicating the 10 performers they would like to vote ‘yes’ for plus 3 additional ‘maybe’ votes subject to rule 1. If ties occur for the last places to be filled, then the jury will rank the tied competitors in a second ballot subject to rule 7. If ties occur after the ranking, a third ballot will be held to decide between the tied competitors. If the result is still indecisive after the third ballot, the President of the Jury will have the casting vote. 
    

5. After the semi-final each juror will be asked to complete a form indicating the 5 performers they would like to vote ‘yes’ for plus 1 additional ‘maybe’ vote subject to rule 1. If ties occur for the last places to be filled, then the jury will rank the tied competitors in a second ballot subject to rule 7. If ties occur after the ranking, a third ballot will be held to decide between the tied competitors. If the result is still indecisive after the third ballot, the President of the Jury will have the casting vote. 
    

6. At the end of the final, an agreement will be reached by the jury as to whether to award the First prize. Each prize will be voted for individually from First prize to Fifth prize in descending order, with the prizes being awarded to the competitor with the majority of votes in each case.  The jury is asked to consider the performances and programming of the finalists’ second stage and semi-finals in addition to the finals when making their choices of ranking. If there is a tie between two or more competitors, the President of the Jury will have the casting vote. 
    

7. If the tied competitors for the last places to be filled in each of the first stage, second stage and semi-final contain a competitor who is a student of a member of the jury, the juror will abstain from the second and third ballots in each case. 
    

8. A special prize is awarded at the discretion of the President of the Jury to the competitor who gives the best performance of a concerto from List A in the semi-final. 

Feedback 

Feedback on performances from the video screening and Stage 1 will not be available to the competitors. 

Pianists that do not pass through from Stage 2 to the semi-finals, will be able to discuss feedback from their performances with the President of the Jury.  

Pianists who do not pass from the Semi-finals to the Finals will be able to discuss feedback from their performances with jury members.  

Feedback in written form (hard copy or via email or messages) will not be available for any of the competitors. 

Unconscious Bias 

The Jury will be given unconscious bias training to ensure that equality, diversity and inclusion issues are covered and known to all. This will be carried out at the jury briefing by the Jury Manager. 

Contingencies 

There may be instances where there is a need for a ruling to address an issue that is not covered in the above document. In such cases, the President of the Jury will confer with the Concerts Director and their joint ruling on the matter is final.