Voting Procedures

Preselection Panel

The pre-selection panel will consist of four pianists/musicians of international experience, including the Artistic Director of the Competition Piers Lane AO. The 2023 pre-selection panel was Helen Krizos, Geoffrey Saba and Kathron Sturrock.

The Competition management will carefully review each application to ensure it meets the Competition criteria. The panel will only assess applications and videos which are fully compliant. The jury may, at its discretion, disqualify any applicant if the application material supplied is not of a suitable quality for adequate assessment.

The panel members will be asked to select their top 32 applicants. They will listen in their own time to all of the recorded material. They are encouraged to keep notes on each performance and to deploy their own preferred method of scoring in order to arrive at their decision. Applicants will be ranked according to the numbers of votes they receive. Those who receive votes from all four jurors will immediately be accepted, followed by those who receive three and then two until the requisite 32 competitors are selected. Should there be a tie for any remaining place(s) in the 32, the panelists will revote on the tied applicants until a decision is reached. Discussion is allowed at this point.

Reserves will be similarly decided. There is no limit to the number of reserves and they will be informed of their status at the time of the announcement of the successful 32 applicants. The Artistic Director reserves the right to approach other applicants, right up to the start of the Competition, should none of the official reserves be available to fill places vacated by withdrawing competitors.

The 32 selected applicants will be advised of their success by the end of February 2023. They will need to fulfil certain administrative requirements and indicate acceptance of their invitation before the public announcement of the successful competitors. Reserves will also be contacted at this time, to ascertain their willingness to be reserves. All applicants will be personally contacted by the Competition’s management with the results of the Pre-Selection Round.

Semi Finals and Finals Procedure

The following procedure applies to the selection of competitors for the Semi Final and Final Rounds of the Competition. Further procedures, detailed in the Preliminaries Round 1a, Semi Finals Round 2a and Finals Round 3b paragraphs will apply for the selection of special prizewinners at various points during the Competition. The two basic voting procedures employ an elimination system rather than a numerical one.

The jury will select, in playing order, the twelve most deserving pianists for advancement to the Semi Final Rounds and six most deserving for advancement to the Final Rounds. Selections for advancement will be based on a cumulative, but personal evaluation of the competitors’ performances

Voting

Voting will be completed on an online survey ‘Survey Sparrow’ at the end of the Preliminaries and at the end of the Semi Finals. Each of the seven jurors will submit the number of competitor names equal to the number of spaces available for advancement to the next round. After voting, the non-voting Chairman of the jury will scrutinize the votes with the voting administrator in the presence of the entire jury. SurveySparrow will automatically tally all votes. The competitors who receive the most votes from the jury will advance to the next round.

Ties

In the event of a tie for the last place(s), a revote will be held for the tied competitors in order to select the required number of competitors.

In the occasion that seven competitors receive one vote each creating a tie the Non-Voting Chairman of the Jury will cast a vote.

Jurors/Competitors

Any juror having, or having had during the preceding five years, a family, teaching, professional or personal relationship with a competitor must declare such a relationship to the rest of the jury. Masterclasses do not count as teaching relationships. That juror may, if he/she sees fit, include the name of a ‘related’ competitor as one of his/her twelve or six submissions. However, in such cases, the juror’s opinion will not count as a vote on behalf of that competitor. When counting the votes for each competitor, that juror’s vote for the competitor will become the ratio between the total number of votes received and number of jurors eligible to vote for that competitor.

Results

Results will be revealed to the jury and then to the public in the playing order adopted from the first round of the Preliminaries. The relative standing of competitors will not be revealed to jury or public.

1. Preliminaries Rounds I and II:

1a. After the Preliminaries Round 1 (7th July 2023), the jurors’ task will be to select the winner of the Edward Cahill Best Preliminaries Round 1 Recital Prize.

A survey using the software SurveySparrow will enable Jurors to select one (1) competitor for this prize. Should none of the competitors attain at least four of the votes of the seven jurors, then a further ballot will be held to decide between the two competitors with the most votes.

a. Should there be a tie between three or more competitors for the highest number of votes, a second ballot will be held of the tied competitors. Should none of the tied competitors attain a majority of votes, a further ballot will be held to decide between the two competitors with the most votes.

b. Should there be a tie between competitors for the second most votes, the jury will first hold a ballot to decide between those tied competitors. Another ballot will then be held between the winner of that vote and the competitor with the most votes but who did not receive at least four out of seven votes.

c. Should seven competitors each receive one vote creating a tie, the Non-Voting Chairman of the Jury will cast an eighth vote for one of the seven. Following this, a further ballot will be held to decide between the remaining six competitors. Should none of the competitors attain a majority of votes, further ballots will be held between competitors to attain a majority of votes. Another ballot will then be held between the winner of the majority and the competitor who received the eighth vote from the Non-Voting Chairman of the Jury.

1b. After the Preliminaries Round 2 (10th July 2023), the task of the jurors will be threefold:

I. To select twelve competitors to advance to the Semi Final Rounds 1 and 2. SurveySparrow will enable Jurors to select twelve (12) competitors in playing order ie in no particular order of preference. The ‘Ties’ procedure outlined above will be used to resolve a tie in the last place(s).

II. To select the winner of the Isador Goodman Best Preliminaries Round 2 Recital Prize, using the procedure outlined above for the Edward Cahill Best Preliminaries Round 1 Recital Prize.

III. To decide the winner of the Malcolm Williamson Best Performance of an Australian Piece Prize, using the procedure outlined above for the Edward Cahill Best Preliminaries Round 1 Recital Prize.

Semi Finals Rounds I and II:

2a. After the Semi Finals Round 1 (13th July 2023) the task of the jurors will be threefold:

I. To decide the winner of the Ignaz Friedman Best Semi Final Recital Prize using the procedure outlined above for the Edward Cahill Prize.
II. To decide the winner of the Best Encore in the Semi Final Prize using the procedure outlined above for the Edward Cahill Prize.
III. To select Rhondda Gillespie Best Performance of a Work from any Period Before 1950 by a Rarely-Played and Unduly Neglected Composer Prize using the voting procedure outlined above for the Edward Cahill Prize.

2b.After the Semi Finals Round 2 (15th July 2023), the task of the jury will be manifold:

I. To select six competitors to advance to the Final Rounds. The jury will consider performances from all Rounds to this point. SurveySparrow will enable Jurors to select six (6) competitors in playing order – ie in no particular order of preference. The ‘Ties’ procedure outlined above will be used to resolve a tie in the last place(s).
II. To select the winner of the Hephzibah Menuhin Best Performance of a Sonata for Violin and Piano Prize, using the voting procedure outlined above for the Edward Cahill Prize.
III. To select the winner of the Geoffrey Parsons Best Performance of a Sonata for Cello and Piano Prize using the voting procedure outlined above for the Edward Cahill Prize.
IV. To select the winner of the Una Bourne Best Accompanist Prize, using the voting procedure outlined above for the Edward Cahill Prize.
V. To select the winner of the Geoffrey Tozer Most Promising Pianist not Proceeding to the Finals Prize using the voting procedure outlined above for the Edward Cahill Prize. Discussion of possibilities by the jury will be allowed before voting.
VI. To select the Best Program Presentation in the Semi Final Prize using the voting procedure outlined above for the Edward Cahill Prize

3. Finals  Rounds I and II

3a. After the Finals Round 1 (19th July 2023), the jury will select the winner of the Roy Agnew Best Concerto 1800 and Earlier Prize.

3b. After the Finals Round 2 (22nd July 2023), the task of the jury will be manifold:

i. To select the Ernest Hutcheson First Prize winner. In awarding prizes, jurors should consider all Rounds of the Competition. If a juror has, or has had during the preceding five years, a family, teaching, professional or personal relationship with a competitor who is in the Final Round, that juror may be present from the start at the gathering of the jury, but he/she will not be permitted to vote until such point as his/her related competitor has been placed. If a tied deadlock is the result of this procedure, the Chairman of the jury will vote in place of the juror concerned.
SurveySparrow will enable Jurors to select one (1) competitor for the Ernest Hutcheson First prize.
a. Should none of the competitors attain a majority of votes, or at least half of the votes of the jurors entitled to vote and who did vote in the Final Round, then a further ballot will be held to decide between the two competitors with the most votes.
b. Should there be a tie of three competitors for the highest number of votes, a second ballot will be held of the tied competitors so that a majority may be obtained.
c. Should there be a tie between competitors for the second most votes, the jury will first hold a ballot to decide between those tied competitors. Another ballot will then be held between the winner of that vote and the competitor with the most votes but who did not receive a majority or at least half of the votes.
ii. To select the winner of the Percy Grainger Second Prize. After the Ernest Hutcheson First Prize winner is selected, the Second Prizewinner will be determined using the same procedure as for the Ernest Hutcheson First Prize winner.
iii. To select the winner of the George Frederick Boyle Third Prize. After the Percy Grainger Second Prize winner is selected, the George Frederick Boyle Third Prize will be determined using the same procedure.
iv. To select the winner of the William Murdoch Fourth Prize. After the George Frederick Boyle Third Prize winner is selected, the William Murdoch Fourth Prize will be determined using the same procedure.
v. To select the Arthur Benjamin Fifth Prize and the Noel Mewton-Wood Sixth Prize. After the William Murdoch Fourth Prize winner is selected, the Arthur Benjamin Fifth Prize will be determined using the same procedure, and hence the Noel Mewton-Wood Sixth Prize will also be determined.
vi. To select the Miriam Hyde Best Concerto Post-1800 Prize. After the completion of the selections of First to Sixth Prize winners, the jury will vote to select the winner of the Miriam Hyde Best Concerto Post-1800 Prize using the voting procedure outlined above for the Edward Cahill Prize.
vii. To select the Eileen Joyce Best Overall Concerto Prize the jury will vote using the voting procedure outlined above for the Edward Cahill Prize.
viii. To select the Nancy Weir Best Australian Pianist Prize. This will go to the Australian who advances furthest in the Competition. If two or more Australians advance to the same stage of the Competition, a vote will be taken by the jury to determine the winner of the prize. If there are two competitors, the competitor with the majority of votes will win. If there are three or more, the jury will vote using the voting procedure outlined above for the Edward Cahill Prize. If no Australian advances past the Preliminaries Round 2, the jury will vote on the relevant competitors using the voting procedure outlined above for the Edward Cahill Prize.
ix. To select the winner of the Medal given to the Most Promising Competitor using the procedure outlined above for the Edward Cahill Prize.

Before the public announcement of the results, the jury will be informed of the winner of the Rex Hobcroft People’s Choice Prize (voted for by audiences via the website pianoplus.com.au).