1. PARTICIPATION
To compete in the Symphonica Song Contest, applicants must fill out for application form on the contests website com; successful applicants will receive a confirmation email with further details from the Executive Producer.

The Application process typically opens one month prior to each contest launch.

2. THE SYMPHONICA SEASON
Each edition begins with the Country Allocation where the Executive Producer will randomly draw 1 country for each of the competing participants to represent as Head of Delegation; they will have approximately 8 weeks to research and select their act & song following set criteria. During the season, the following events take place:

• Official Contest Launch – Theme & Host City Reveal
• Live Semi Final Allocation Draw
• National Finals
• Song Reveals
• Voting Week
• Live Semi Final and Grand Final Shows

3. COMPETING COUNTRIES
Participants will be allocated 1 of the following competing countries:

4. COMMUNITY
Symphonica is a place where community comes first; a safe space for people from all corners of the work to come together and explore, discover and share music and culture. Participants will be required to join a private Facebook Group Page and Chat Room where they will be kept up to date on all the contest news, updates and special announcements – it will also be a dedicated space for all participants to stay connected. Any offensive and poor behaviour from any participant will result in immediate dismissal from the contest permanently.

5. ACT & SONG SELECTION

5.1 Selection Process
Participants select their Act & Song one of two ways;

-   Internal Selection: Head of Delegations choice with no involvement from any other participants.
-   National Selection: Head of Delegation hosts a national selection with as many Acts/Songs competing as they want – other Heads of Delegation will vote to select the winning
     song; Head of Delegation has free creative control on the format.

5.2 Act Selection Criteria
Acts, which can be a soloist or a group of up to 8 members, is only eligible to represent a country if they meet one of the following criteria:

-   One member of the Act, or a biological parent of one member of the Act was born in that country.
-   One member of the Act, or a biological parent of one member of the Act is/was a legal citizen of that country.
-   Acts can only represent one country per edition (in the event that two Heads of Delegation want to select the same Act, this will be offered to the Head of Delegation who     
     confirms their selection with the Executive Producer first).
-   Acts cannot have competed in the previous contest even if for a different country expect for the winning Act; they are eligible to represent the host country and defend their
     title.
-   All members of the Act must be over the age of 16 on the day of the contest launch.
-   All member of the Act must be alive on the day of the contest launch; should a member of the Act pass away after this date, as a sign of respect, the Head of Delegation will be
     required to select a new Act.

5.3 Song Selection Criteria
Songs are only eligible to represent a country if they meet all of the following criteria: 

-   The song was released within one year of the contests launch date.
-   The song is an original by the act (this can be a remix).
-   The song is between 2 – 4 minutes in length.
-   The song has a music or lyric Video on YouTube which is copyright free (this will be checked by the Executive Producer upon selection).
-   The song has not competed in the Eurovision Song Contest (songs that have competed in a National Final but did not go to Eurovision are eligible).
-   The song has not competed in any edition of the Symphonica Song Contest.

6. SONG SUBMISSION & ANNOUNCEMENT
When a song has been selected, Heads of Delegation must submit this to the Executive Producer for copyright check and approval. Once approved, they will agree a date for the Executive Producer to announce and reveal the song to the other participants and voting public.

 
7. SEMI FINAL ALLOCATION DRAW
A special Semi Final allocation draw will be broadcast on YouTube. The draw will determine which Semi Final the Semi Finalists will compete in, as well as which half of the Running Order (1^st half or 2^nd half) they will perform in.

All countries will compete in one of the two Semi Finals except for the host country which will automatically qualify for the Grand Final; their running order position will be drawn during the Semi Final Allocation Draw.

8. RUNNING ORDERS
The process for deciding the Semi Final & Grand Final Running Orders will be as follows:

8.1 Semi Final
-   Once all songs have been chosen and the Semi Final Allocation Draw is complete, the Executive Producer will determine the Semi Final Running Orders which will be shared
     with the Heads of Delegation several weeks before the shows.

8.2 Grand Final
-   After each Semi Final, the Executive Producer will randomly draw one of the following options for each of the qualifying countries (in order of qualification announcement)
a)   1^st Half (position 1 – 13)
b)   2^nd Half (position 14 – 25)
c)   Producers Choice (any position 1 – 25); 5 qualifiers will be drawn this option – if none of the first 7 qualifiers draw this option, then the remaining 5 countries will
       automatically be given this draw.

Once the above is complete, the executive producer will decide on the Grand Final running order which will be revealed after the Second Semi Final.

9. VOTING SYSTEM
The vote for both Semi Finals and the Grand Final will be split:

• 50% of the vote will be made up by the Heads of Delegation.
• 50% of the vote will be made up by members of the Public; the number of public voters will be equal to the number of participants competing as Heads of Delegation; each individual will be randomly allocated one of the competing countries for who they will vote on behalf of. All people in the voting public will remain anonymous throughout the contest.

9.1 How to vote
All Heads of Delegation & the voting public will have five days to rank all competing songs from first to last (excluding their allocated country) via an online voting form; these rankings will be used to determine where each countries ‘Jury’ & ‘Public’ points in the Semi Finals and Grand Final will be awarded; only countries in the top 10 of their ranking will receive points:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 & 12 points.

9.2 Semi Final Points & Results
-   Each countries Semi Final votes will be awarded in the Semi Final they are not competing in. The host country will vote in both Semi Finals.
-   The 12 countries receiving the most overall points combined of the Jury and Public vote will qualify and advance to the Grand Final.
-   The Jury and Public points awarded in the Semi Finals will not be revealed until after the Grand Final; during each Semi Final, the qualifying countries will be revealed in a
     totally random order.

9.3 Grand Final Points & Results
-   The Jury points awarded by each country will be revealed one Jury at a time; points 1 – 7 will be shown on the screen, followed by the 8, 10 and 12 points presented separately
     by a virtual spokesperson.
-   Once all Jury points have been awarded, the total number of public points received by each country will be presented one country at a time, starting with the country who sits
     bottom of the scoreboard after Jury points have been awarded.

A full breakdown of all results will be shared after the Grand Final.
Any Participant caught sharing their votes with anyone ahead of the Semi Finals or Grand Final will result in immediate disqualification and removal from the contest.

10. THE WINNER

The winning country will host the following edition as be the main feature.
The winning participant will automatically act as Head of Delegation for the country in the following edition and defend their title (if they wish to compete).