Author: Allison McKnight

The Scottish FIRE competition rules have been updated. Some of the revisions include:

• All Open and Junior competitors will be required to become FIRE members prior to a competition.
• The order of play for the Junior and Open National competition will be chosen by lottery to make it fair for those who may qualify as late as 2 weeks prior.
• Please note the change regarding those who may qualify in the last few weeks prior to the National competition.
• Be sure to read Roman numeral V letter B under Judging guidelines as this too has been clarified.

The competition rules have been updated to incorporate the following changes to the Local and Regional competition categories:

1. There will now be an Intermediate category for both Junior and senior competitors.
   • The winners of the Intermediate category will not be eligible to participate in the Nationals.
   • If a competitor wins the Intermediate category 6 times, the competitor will be required to compete in the appropriate Open category.
   • It is up to the games as to whether there are enough competitors to divide the Intermediate Category into separate Junior and Senior categories
2. The Novice category remains unchanged. It is up to the games as to whether there are enough competitors to divide the Novice Category into separate Junior and Senior categories
3. The Junior category will now be called Junior Open.  Winners, as in the past, will be eligible to participate in the Junior National Competition.     

Other rules already in effect remain unchanged

Therefore, there will be the following competition patterns for Scottish fiddle competitions:

For competitors under the age of 18:

• Junior Novice (assuming separate Junior and Senior categories)
• Junior Intermediate (assuming separate Junior and Senior categories)
• Junior Open

For competitors 18 or older:

• Novice (assuming separate Junior and Senior categories)
• Intermediate (assuming separate Junior and Senior categories)
• Open 

We hope that these changes will encourage competitors who are no longer novices, but who do not feel ready to compete with people aiming for the Nationals, to continue competing and growing as Scottish fiddlers, and to increase the number of competitors at the local and regional Scottish fiddle competitions.