CartSign In
Home

Awards and Recommendations

Courtesy of the generosity of our donors, the Festival offers two types of awards to performers: trophies and scholarships. The Festival is also eligible to recommend performers in select disciplines to participate in the OMFA Provincial Finals, also known in this syllabus as “Provincials”.

  1. Unless specified otherwise, you or your ensemble must perform in one or more competitive classes and must earn a minimum mark, varying by discipline, in order to be eligible for awards and recommendations.
  2. Any decisions made by the adjudicators or by the Executive Director with respect to the disposition of awards or recommendations are final. 

Trophies

  1. Trophies are physical awards handed to performers who win them according to the criteria set out for them.
  2. All trophies are the property of the Festival, and are loaned out to winners upon their award until such time as the Festival requests their return.
  3. Should you or your ensemble win a trophy and fail to return it to the Festival upon request, you or your ensemble will be subject to disqualification in all classes any future Festival in which you participate so long as the trophy remains outstanding, or to additional penalties or action as deemed necessary by the Festival.
  4. The Festival defines four types of trophy: Musicianship trophies, Performance trophies, Playoff trophies, and Invitational trophies.

Musicianship Trophies

  1. A Musicianship trophy is awarded at the end of a discipline to a participant demonstrating the best overall musicianship skills as assessed by the adjudicator. The trophy is awarded at the adjudicator’s discretion to any participant who has (a) achieved the minimum mark in at least one competitive class in their discipline, and (b) satisfies any other criteria of the trophy.

Performance Trophies

  1. A Performance trophy is awarded to the top-performing eligible participant — that is, the participant with the highest mark — at the end of the final qualifying class. If a qualifying class is split into multiple sections, only the participant who is best in class across all sections will qualify.

Playoff Trophies

  1. A Playoff trophy is awarded during a special playoff, also known as a trophy class, following all regularly-scheduled classes in a discipline. Performers who place first in qualifying classes are eligible to perform in the playoff. Except where otherwise specified, if a qualifying class is split into multiple sections, only the participant who is best in class across all sections is eligible to perform. 

Invitational Trophies

  1. An Invitational trophy is awarded during a special playoff , also known as a trophy class, following the final regularly-scheduled classes in a discipline. Participants who have achieved the minimum marks for their discipline and who satisfy any other criteria of the trophy are invited at the adjudicator’s discretion to perform in the playoff.

Conduct of a Playoff

  1. If you or your ensemble qualify to perform at a trophy playoff, you must perform one repertoire selection, in whole or in part, from the performance or performances that earned you the place in the playoff.
  2. You perform once for each trophy for which you qualify. For instance, if you are performing at a playoff and qualify for two trophies, you perform twice — once for each trophy.
  3. The adjudicator determines the winner of each trophy that is to be awarded at their discretion. The adjudicator does not provide written or verbal adjudications.

Scholarships

  1. Within each discipline in which scholarships are available, the adjudicator recommends a number of participants to the Festival to be awarded scholarships. In general, such recommendations are made entirely at the discretion of the adjudicators, based upon their assessments of participants’ potential. The Festival awards scholarships based on these recommendations.
  2. Scholarships of over $100 in value may include additional criteria for eligibility in select disciplines, while scholarships of $100 or less may be freely awarded.
  3. Several scholarships have specific associated requirements or conditions which may supersede adjudicators’ recommendations or other standard eligibility criteria. For instance, a scholarship may be attached to a trophy, and awarded exclusively to that trophy’s winner.
  4. Once the Festival has allocated available scholarships, it will contact intended recipients and notify them of the award. In addition, the Festival will announce awarded scholarships on the Festival website and/or other official Festival documentation.
  5. If you have been awarded a scholarship, in order to claim it you must submit a written thank-you note to the scholarship's donor or to a recipient designated by the Festival. The note must be addressed to the donor or designated recipient, and its content must be appropriate for the circumstances. Should you not submit such a note on or before the date of the Festival’s year-end, 30 June, you are considered to have forfeited the claim to the scholarship, and no funds will be disbursed.
  6. Scholarship payments to individual performers will be issued in the name of each performer as it was entered on the registration form. Scholarship payments to ensembles will be issued to the ensemble, care of the ensemble’s host organisation if there is one.
  7. Several scholarships, known as senior scholarships, are available by means of a distinct application process, described on the Festival website.

OMFA Provincial Finals

  1. Within certain disciplines, the adjudicator may be able to recommend one or more participants to participate at Provincials. Adjudicators recommend participants at their discretion, subject to any discipline-specific requirements and any requirements set out by OMFA.
  2. Participants interested in taking part in Provincials must carefully review the rules on the OMFA website and plan their registrations in this Festival in order to be able to satisfy Provincials requirements.