Brass Bands England (BBE) has announced that the 2023 National Youth Brass Band Championships of Great Britain will be hosted at Stockport Grammar School, Greater Manchester.

The significantly revised 'Youth Champs' will take place on Saturday 25th March with the ethos of inspiring performance opportunities for young brass band players.

Youth bands from across the UK are being encouraged to take part in new competitive elements, whilst a non-competitive Besson Prodige Showcase Section will be open to any band or ensembles, regardless of make-up and level of experience.

Format changes

BBE has announced several changes in response to participant feedback.

All sections will be open to performers who have not reached their 19th birthday on or before 31st August in the year of the contest.

The new Performance Section aims to provide a first taste of competition and will replace the former Elementary and Intermediate sections. Competitors will showcase an own-choice programme to include at least one original work for brass band.

There will be no set test-piece requirement in the Championship Section, giving bands the flexibility to choose music suitable for their own ensemble.

Meanwhile, the draw based on geographical location to the event venue will now become a permanent addition to the contest rules.

European qualification

BBE has announced that qualification for the English entry to the European Youth Brass Band Championships has been adjusted to provide better alignment with its age restrictions for participation.

The qualification place for the EYBBC Premier Section (aged 22 years or under on 1st January in the year of the contest) will now go to the highest placed English band in the Trophy Section of UniBrass, the National University Brass Band Championships, rather than any band participating in the National Youth Championships.

The invitation to the EYBBC Development Section (aged 18 years or under) will now be awarded to the highest placed English band in the Championship Section of the Youth Champs.

Qualifying bands for Wales and Scotland will be decided by the respective banding bodies in those countries.

Appropriate sections

Speaking to 4BR about the changes, BBE's Chief Executive Officer, Kenny Crookston, clarified the adjustments: "The changes to the EYBBC qualification process are aimed at ensuring we send bands to appropriate sections of the European event.

Despite the successful results English bands have had at the EYBBC, various aspects of the event have placed an unreasonable burden of expectation upon those which have felt the need to recruit additional players who had been ineligible for the qualification event."

He added: "The changes we have made address these and other issues, while the introduction of the UniBrass qualifier also brings a further level of cohesion to the lifelong journey from beginner through youth and university to adult community banding, which is so vital for the future prosperity of brass bands in England."

Youth and UniBrass

He continued: "To give bands time to prepare, the Youth Champs and UniBrass contests will continue to qualify for the following year's EYBBC events.

The 2023 events will therefore be the qualifiers for the 2024 EYBBC in Palanga (Lithuania).

We are grateful to the UniBrass Foundation for accepting our suggestion to award a qualification place via their contest and look forward to working with them to ensure that university bands can take up the invitation in future years."

Amazing opportunity

In response to the news, Thomas Hicken, Chair of the UniBrass Foundation, added: "UniBrass are really excited to be able to work alongside BBE to give university bands this amazing opportunity to show what they can do on the international stage.

We look forward to working with and supporting the qualifying bands, alongside their institutions, to make sure they represent themselves, and the whole of England, as best as possible.

He added: "We are also exploring opportunities for bands in other sections of the contest to gain high quality performance opportunities on the back of their achievements with us, watch this space!"

The changes to the EYBBC qualification process are aimed at ensuring we send bands to appropriate sections of the European eventBBE, CEO, Kenny Crookston

Find out more:

Applications to take part in Youth Champs 2023 will open on Tuesday 20th September 2022 via the Brass Bands England website.

https://www.bbe.org.uk/what-we-do/national-youth-brass-band-championships

Ahead of the entry window, bands considering participating can download a Pre-Entry Information Pack as well as access updated Aims and Rules.

All documentation is now available via the Youth Champs page on the Brass Bands England website.

Got questions?

A Youth Champs online information session will be hosted by the BBE team on Tuesday 11th October between 6.00 — 7.00pm.