Entrant’s Information

A couple of points to remember to cause less confusion when we are compiling the entries:
– Just 1 entry and 1 entry fee for a duet.
– Print names carefully, especially stage names that are “made up”.

1. The MLT New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards reserve the right to photograph, record and/or broadcast any or all of the performances at auditions or finals for publicity purposes.
2. Audition times are drawn by ballot and advised after the closing date of entries.
3. Contestants perform one song for auditions. Those reaching the finals may perform the same audition song or another of their choice.
4. The origin and sound of the song MUST BE COUNTRY.
5. Judging is by a panel of judges during the auditions and finals.
6. Judging is based on vocal and musical ability and stage presence. Judging differs for the Singer/Songwriter section as outlined below.
7. Strictly no alcohol or drugs allowed. Any contestant under the influence of drugs or alcohol may be disqualified. Right of admission reserved.
8. Contestants may enter once only in any one section.
9. All sections are vocal – with the exception of Instrumental.
10. No pre-programmed backing allowed. Single production instruments only.
11. Official backing bands are available for auditions and finals, except for Traditional and Open Band sections. Contestants may accompany themselves and not use the backing band. However, when using the official backing band, one additional musician may join the band or replace a band member. NOTE: you cannot dismiss the entire band and use your own backing band.
12. No harmonies or backing vocals are allowed in Vocal sections.
13. Ages as at 1st June 2020. Junior = 12 years and under. Intermediate = 17 years and under. All entrants in the 40 Plus must be aged over 40 years, and in the 60 Plus must be 60 years or over.
14. Gold Guitar Winners are not eligible to enter the same age group the following year.
15. The MLT New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards committee reserves the right for any section to be judged outright, to add to or delete from the programme at any time, or cancel any section if there are insufficient entries.
16. Judges have the right to recall any contestants and their decisions are final.

Please realise – only one member of a duet or group has to pay the entry fee. We will not be refunding double payments in the future.

For a couple of years we have provided some “guidelines” for each of the sections to give some guidance to contestants and judging.
For all of us we must remember that judging is subjective and many times we may not agree with the decisions of the judges.

This year we had some confusions when working out who was entering and the stage names. It is not essential to have a “stage name” – names of the contestants in a duet, group are sufficient. Click here to download PDF.

When setting the audition times we do our best to ensure a contestant’s auditions do not clash across the various venues. Please appreciate the complexity of this when it comes to groups. (Some entry forms do not make it very clear who is in a group.) On the Awards weekend some of these carefully worked out times can be disrupted because of one or more venue running late, or contestants asking for changes to be able to take part in the busking competition. The committee apologises for any inconvenience this makes for contestants and their supporters. The letter with contestants audition times states contestants can expect to be called 30 minutes before their allotted times. We appreciate contestants who are ready and prepared to go on stage before their allotted time.

A constant concern for us is the length of some contestants entries. Each contestant has a time space of 4 minutes (6 minutes for groups). This is the time for each contestant to introduce their entry and sing/play their song. This year some introductions were nearly one minute long – a quarter of the time and the judges hadn’t heard any musical ability. Some entries included the backing band playing an instrumental for nearly 30 seconds – again the judges are wanting to hear the ability of the entrant not the prowess of the band.  (We are aware some instrumentals are necessary for chord changes.) It may be necessary to not sing some verses or repeat the chorus. Please take care of the length of your song/tune – it would be embarrassing to be penalised for going over time.

Good chord charts are essential for the backing band. Please refer to the New Zealand Gold Guitar website for guidelines to writing chord charts.

It is the contestants’ responsibility to ensure their guitar is in tune.  Note changing temperatures can alter the tuning.

Many people have told us they appreciated the ease of access to information from our Facebook page. We will continue with this. Look for links from our website to other sites related to New Zealand Gold Guitars. Please refer to our website for information about entry forms, entry fees and chord charts.

The official backing band is not available for this section. Please arrange your own acoustic backing.

You may enter only one age group. The only exception is the Open Band and Open Vocal Group sections.

60 Plus entrants may enter the 40 Plus duet and/or 40 Plus Country Rock section.

40 Plus and 60 Plus entrants in all sections are ineligible for the Senior Gold Guitar Overall Award

You must enter your own age group sections. The only exception is Duet, New Country and Open Vocal Group; Junior’s may go up an age group/s to perform with an Intermediate or Senior. Intermediates may go up an age group to perform with a senior. This does not apply to the 40 Plus and 60 Plus sections.

Juniors may enter the Intermediate Sections in Traditional, Instrumental and NZ Song.

Groups and duets may enter in any section except Vocal Solo.

Band and Vocal Group sections are open to all age groups. To be eligible for the Senior Overall Award, at least one of the band or group must be a Senior entrant.

The Vocal Group is comprised of three or more vocalists who must use the official backing band. Vocalists must not play instruments in this section.

The Band section is comprised of three or more group members who must provide their own instrumental backing. The official backing band is not available for this section.

New Country is an open section to all ages, including duo, groups and bands. The song performed must be a song recorded and commercially released by any artist from the 1st January 2015. Only New Country entries with a Senior Entrant are eligible for the Senior Gold Guitar Overall Award.

New Country Section capped at 40 entries, on a first in first entered basis.

The songs in this section MUST BE COUNTRY SONGS written or co-written by a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident.

This section is open to all solo performers 18 years and over including 40 Plus and 60 Plus contestants.

The song must have been written or co-written by the person performing it.

The singer performing the song is the winner of the Dag Scholarship.

A copy of the lyrics MUST be submitted by email prior to the 22nd May 2020 info@goldguitars.co.nz.

The winner of the Dag Scholarship must be available to travel to Australia in early July 2021.

40 Plus and 60 Plus entrants in this section are not eligible for the Senior Gold Guitar Overall Award.

This section will be judged on song composition, commercial potential, lyrics and performance.