We're looking for a song of peace. As long as a song takes this into consideration, it could be in any style you like. Past entrants have included elements of pop, rock, folk, jazz, classical, musical show songs, acoustic songs, new-age, dance, blues and most styles you can think of.
If it's a song about peace, and the judges like it, you could be travelling the long, long way to Tipperary! (These days with modern transport, it's not that far anymore!)
The 2010 Competition is now open and entries are being accepted. Please visit: Rules and Entry Form (Will open in a new window)
You can read the rules and print off an entry form to send with your CD / Tape.
What's The Tipperary International Song of Peace Competition all about?
The competition is an international song writing competition which attracts thousands of entries from all over the world every year. All entries in the song competition must have a theme that has something to do with the idea of 'peace'. All musical styles are encouraged to enter. Ten finalists are picked to appear at the Grand Final evening at the Excel Theatre in Tipperary, Ireland.
Great news! The 2010 Competition is now open and entries are being accepted. There's a new blog up on this page with the competition rules and some added info. If you'd like to enter then please print out the entry form from the official Peace Conference site: You can post that along with your CD / Tape.
Rules and Entry Form (Will open in a new window)
What kind of song is the Tipperary Song of Peace Looking For?
A song of peace, love and harmony, about people, places or things, in fact anything that one feels constitutes a 'sense of peace'. The organisers are most anxious that the contest embraces all musical tastes.
What's So Special About This Song Writing Competition?
The short answer, using the Irish word is: the 'craic'. Although the night of the song contest will probably be the most important to songwriters and musicians, you'll soon find out that there's so much more going on during this long weekend. The Peace Award ceremony has attracted well-known leaders and celebrities from around the world. Peace forum's are held with everyone encouraged to get involved. The hospitality, respect and friendship that will be shown to you from the Mayor, Councillors, Peace Committee members and the people of Tipperary Town makes for an unforgettable experience. Add to this, the jam session nights when guitars,
harmonicas and voices provide a wonderful background to getting to meet other songwriters and musicians from around the world, and most people agree that it's an unforgettable experience!
How Does it Work?
The finals of the competition are held towards the end of April every year as part of an International Conference of Peace held in Tipperary Town, Ireland. In fact, 2 prizes are awarded each year:
The Peace Prize goes to an international leader(s), or group of people who have contributed greatly towards peace in the world. Past winners of this 'peace prize' have included Nelson Mandela, Soviet leader Gorbachov, President Bill Clinton, Bob Geldof, the former Mayor of New York, Mr. Rudy Giuliani, and it's been awarded postumately to Lebanon leader Rafik Hariri and Pakistan leader Benazir Bhutto.
The 'Song of Peace' prize of 1500 euros and a Tipperary Crystal trophy is awarded to the winning song on the night of the song contest. All the finalists are also presented with a souvenir crystal trophy. A panel of judges is given a copy of the final ten songs to listen to, 2 weeks before the final's evening, and are also present when the songs are performed at the Excel Theatre. Being a songwriting competition, the judges are asked to judge more on the songs themselves than the performance of them. However, it stands to reason that a great performance of a great song, will certainly help! You can either present the song yourself, or bring along other musicians to help out. P.A. System and sound engineers are provided.
If your song does make the final and you make it to Tipperary, you'll find that all the finalists are treated as winners, even though there obviously has to be one winner at the end of it all. We try and project the weekend's sense of 'peace' and 'goodwill' into the competition, and of course, if you make the last 10, you have already done fabulously well!
Be a Friend!
We'd like to be friends with anyone who's interested in the Song Competition or the ideals of the Peace Conference... be it songwriters, musicians, past entrants, future entrants, people who are thinking of going, people who've been before and people who'd just like to offer their support.
Who Am I?
As a past winner of the competition, and a huge supporter and friend of the conference, I'm running this MySpace page on behalf of the Tipperary committee. Although linked to the peace side of the event, this page is more about the songwriting competition itself.
For more information on the contest and the weekend as a whole please check out the Tipperary Conference of Peace website listed below.
I've also posted some blogs about conferences in the past, and will update you with new information as it comes in.
Tipperary Song of Peace was one of the most wonderful experiences I have ever had. All the best to you for the continued success of of the event. John Korbel
Ment to be coming to Ireland in August,to play some gigs,before going to the U.K..If you have anything for Freespirit to play a gig,this would be great.
Hope to hear back from you. Chers Graham "Freespirit"
Thanks for the kind comment, nice to see you got a page on here it's fab. It's where Stace and I started really, on your stage in Tipparary all those years ago.
Online!
