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Band Of The Year

The band of the year awards are designed to reflect the respective performances of bands in all Scottish contests and also in major national and international contests throughout the year. A separate award is made in each section for the band which accumulates the most band of the year points in all contests attended during the contesting year (1st November till 31st October). Band of the Year points are awarded on the following basis:-

Scottish Championships

Each band receives 2 points for taking part, an additional 2 points for each band they defeat and with a 2 point bonus for being the winning band. To demonstrate how this operates, a band winning a section of 10 bands in the Scottish Championships would receive 2 points for taking part, 18 points for having finished higher than 9 other bands and a 2 point bonus for winning the contest, being a total of 22 points. The band finishing in fifth place in the same contest would receive 2 points for taking part and 10 points for having finished higher than 5 other bands, being a total of 12 points.

Other Contests in Scotland

(Edinburgh Charities, Fife Charities, Northern Counties, West of Scotland, Carnegie, Land O' Burns, Borders Entertainment, Whitburn and West Lothian Festival).

Each band receives 1 point for taking part, 1 additional point for each Scottish band in their own section which they defeat and 1 bonus point for being the winning band in their section. Using this example, if 3 bands from the same section were to take part in one of these contests, the sectional winners would receive 1 point for taking part, 2 points for having finished higher than 2 other bands in the same section and 1 bonus point for winning the section, being a total of 4 points. In the same example, the band finishing second would receive 2 points and the band finishing third in the section would receive 1 point.

For the West Lothian Festival which comprises separate semi-finals and then a final, points will only be awarded based on the ultimate result of the contest. To arrive at this, the bands finishing second in each of the semi-finals will be deemed to be equal third in the overall contest result and the bands finishing third in each of the semi-finals will be deemed to be equal fourth in the overall contest result. Assuming all of the bands in the contest are Scottish and in the same section, the winners of the contest will therefore receive 7 points (1 for taking part, 5 for having finished higher than 5 other bands and 1 bonus point for winning the contest), the runners up in the final will receive 5 points, the bands deemed to be equal third will each receive 3.5 points and the bands deemed to be equal fourth will each receive 1.5 points.

Major National and International Contests

(National Championship Finals - all sections, British Open, Grand Sheild, Senior Cup, Senior Trophy, European Championships, Scottish Open, International Masters, Brass in Concert, Mineworkers and Pontins).

Each band receives 1 point for taking part, 1 additional point for each Scottish band in their own section which they defeat, 1 bonus point for being the highest placed Scottish band in their section in the event and an additional bonus point if they were to be the overall winners of the event. Using the 2003 Scottish Open result as an example, Scottish Co-op receive 1 point for taking part, 6 points for defeating 6 other Scottish Championship section bands, 1 bonus point for being the highest placed Scottish Championship section band and 1 further bonus point for being the overall winners, being a total of 9 points.

In the event of a tie in the total number of points scored by two or more bands over the course of the year, the placings acheived in the Scottish Championships will determine the final Band of the Year placings for the bands concerned.

The tables for Band of the Year will be updated following each contest and the up to date position can be checked on this website.