Contest Rules

You’ll find official contest rules here on the web site. If you’re into VLQ competition, you’ll want to read the rules for the VLQ contest. Everyone else should consult the official SPEBSQSA quartet and chorus contest rules, which you’ll find at the Barbershop Harmony Society’s site (search for “contest rules” to find the latest version of the rules). Collegiate Contest rules are also available at the Barbershop Harmony Society’s site (search for “collegiate contest for the latest version of the rules).” And you’ll find High School Quartet contest information at the Youth in Harmony site, courtesy of Terry Reichenbach.

At the fall District Contest, the District Novice Quartet award is given to the highest-scoring quartet in the District contest which has no more than two members who have competed in a sanctioned contest (other than the qualifying Divisional). It MUST be a registered quartet. If no Novice quartet advances from Divisionals, then the highest scoring Divisional Novice quartet will receive the award.

Occasionally, there are also informal novice quartet contests held at various locations within the district (called Divisions, but not to be confused with the Eastern and Western Divisional contests that lead up to the District Contest), which serve as qualifiers for the fun novice contest that’s held at Apple Corps. For these informal novice quartet contests, the following rules apply:

  • The members must be paid up with SPEBSQSA
  • No more than 2 members of the quartet have competed in district contest
  • The quartet CANNOT be registered with SPEBSQSA