Instrument Contest tickets for can be purchased HERE starting at 10am MT January 18th, 2024 (you can buy one when you buy your festival ticket!).

Each entry is $15. Contestants may enter multiple categories however they may not enter a category that they have previously won.

Only (12) tickets will be sold per instrument.

Since the contests are held inside the festival grounds, all contestants must have either a 3-day pass or single-day tickets for Friday (the preliminary round) and Saturday (final round).

An email to all contestants will be sent out in June to confirm contestant registration and gather contestant contact information.

Preliminary Round - Friday, July 26th

Wildflower Pavilion (inside the Festival grounds)

• Banjo - 11:30am
• Flatpick Guitar - 1:00pm
• Mandolin - 2:30pm
• Fiddle - 4:00pm
• Dobro - 5:30pm

Final Round (Top 3 Contestants) - Saturday, July 27th

Festival Main Stage

• Dobro - 9:15am
• Fiddle - 9:40am
• Mandolin - 10:05am
• Flatpick Guitar - 10:30am
• Banjo - 10:55am

Final times are subject to change

• Each competition is limited to 12 registered contestants.
• Contestants who have previously won one of the RockyGrass instrument contests may not enter that same instrument contest again.
• On the day of the preliminary round, contestants must check-in with the contest staff in the Wildflower Pavilion at least 1 hour before their contest is scheduled to begin.
• Time limit is 3 minutes per song for a recommended total stage time of 6 minutes. The judges will mark you down if stage time significantly exceeds the time limit.
• Contestants my retune their instruments between songs however time spent tuning will be counted towards total stage time.
• Contestants play 2 songs in the preliminary round.
• Contestants who place in the top 3 in the preliminary round, will play 2 songs in the final round.
• Repeats of songs played in the preliminary round are not allowed in the final round.
• Each song must be a unique song, a medley of multiple songs is not considered a single song.
• One backup rhythm musician is allowed for accompaniment. Backup musicians may not be Performers at the Festival or be a RockyGrass Academy instructor.
• Contestants must play instruments acoustically into a microphone. Contestants and backup musicians will play on separate microphones.
• Contestants may sit in the provided chair or stand.
• The contest is judged “in the blind” and therefore judges will not be in the audience but will be listening in a remote location.
• CONTESTANTS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO SPEAK ON STAGE.
• The contestant order will be randomly assigned prior to each round and posted.
• The contest emcee will announce each contest by their number and the contestant must be ready to get on stage once their number is called.
• In the event of a tie or virtual tie, the judges as a group will be allowed discretion to come to a consensus regarding the winner(s). A virtual tie is defined as total scores within 5 points of each other. Judges may need to confer to ensure fairness and consistency in the rating process.
• Score sheets will not be shared with contestants

• All contestants must play with a FLAT PICK, no finger picking will be allowed. Therefore no combination of flat pick and finger picking allowed.
• Standard / Traditional acoustic 6-string or standard / traditional acoustic 12-string guitars may be played
• The low E (6th) string can be changed to a “Drop D” or a low D note. No other string tuning or variance from the standard E (1), B (2), G (3), D (4), A (5) will be permitted.

• 50% Overall Ability (includes difficulty, expression, material selection, taste, execution)
• 25% Rhythm
• 25% Tone