November 2026 Meetup and Composition/Arrangement Competition

Composition Competition

Own arrangement or composition

Following the success of last year’s competition, this month we have a special composition/arrangement competition.

Judges to be announced.

• From 2026, there is an Open section (accepting compositions from the general UK-based public). You may play your own composition for classical guitar / ensemble or ask a different performer to perform it.
• There is still a Members-only section (active BCGS members only), judged separately.

Terms and conditions apply!

• It must be your own composition or arrangement, written or finished in 2026
• From 2026, AI-assisted compositions must be declared as such and accompanied with a declaration of how AI was used in the composition and your role in the creative process. Fully AI-generated compositions with no human role beyond prompting are not permitted. Compositions which are AI assisted, but which do not declare this, will be disqualified.
• You must not have used this composition as an entry for any previous competition (including outside BCGS)
• You consent to a video or recording of your composition going on the BCGS website
• If it’s an arrangement, it should be fairly novel, rather than just slight tweaks on a common arrangement (e.g. just a different key)
• For BCGS member entrants section, first prize £100, and £50 and a set of D’Addario strings as a prize for the runner-up!
• For the Open section, prizes to be announced (check back soon!)
• If you can’t confidently play your composition, you may ask someone else to perform it for you
• The first prize winner of the previous year’s competition is excluded from winning again, but is welcome to participate again this year and receive an Honourable Mention award.

Programme