JURY PROCEDURES
14. DUTIES OF THE JURY
14.1. The Artistic Director (AD) sits at all stages of The Leeds 20th Edition. The Artistic Director has the authority, as approved by the Board of Trustees, to appoint the Chair of the Jury for the Second Round, Semi-Finals and Finals (or Leeds Rounds). The Artistic Director also appoints the members of the Pre-selection Panel and International Jury and acts as Chair for both juries.
14.2. In consultation with the Chair of the Jury, the Artistic Director appoints the Jury members for the Leeds Rounds. The composition of the Panel/Jury differs between the Pre-Selection (4 members), the International First Round (4 members) and The Leeds rounds (9 members), but each Panel member/ Juror attends the whole of the round to which they have been appointed.
14.3. The duties of the Chair of the Jury include presiding over the Jury’s work and representing the Jury for the Leeds Rounds. The Chair of the Jury also advises the Artistic Director on the composition of the Jury members, on the repertoire for the different rounds, and on the choice of artistic collaborators. The Chair of the Jury will also be responsible for announcing the results of the Leeds Rounds.
14.4. The sole purpose of the Jury is to listen to and assess every Competitor at all stages for which they are appointed. The Jury must base their decisions solely on the quality of the performances heard in this Competition and not on any previous performances, on Competitor’s reputations, their teachers or other matters of which they may be aware.
14.5. All members of Panels and Juries are required to sign a commitment to behaving in a neutral and fair manner throughout the selection process and are provided with guidelines which are aimed at eliminating unconscious bias.
14.6. Members of the Jury may not vote for a Competitor who is, or has been, one of their pupils. A Competitor is deemed a pupil if they have had three or more private lessons in the last six years, from a pianist on the Jury. A Competitor is not deemed to be a pupil if they have participated in a masterclass with a pianist on the jury.
14.7. In such cases where a Competitor has been / is a pupil, Sections 3.8, 3.9, 3.11 and 3.12 of these rules applies. In case of doubt, please refer the matter to the Artistic Director whose decision will be final.
14.8. A list of all the Competitors who will be progressed through to the International First Round and subsequently to the Second Round of The Leeds will be given to the respective Jury members. The Jury members will then sign the following declaration:
I, the undersigned, appointed as Jury Member for The Leeds 20th Edition 2021, declare that I have read the rules of the Competition and declare that I accept them, including the collection, processing and transmission of my personal data. I agree to abide by these rules and declare that either
(i) there is no consideration required in relation to Section 1.6 of these rules
OR
(ii) that Competitor………………………………is (has been) my pupil as defined in Section 14.6 of these rules .
If the declaration in Section 14.8 is shown to be untrue, the signatory will be excluded from the Jury or from the Competition.
15. JURY PROCEDURES
15.1. Deliberations of the Jury will be strictly PRIVATE except for the attendance of the Operations Director, and when applicable, the Voting Official.
15.2. Throughout the entire Competition, the members of the Jury shall refrain from having any contact, direct or indirect with any Competitor as this may imperil their status in the Competition. Jury members shall also refrain from making any statements about the Competitors in accordance with the provision of these rules.
15.3. Throughout the entire Competition, the members of the Jury will refrain from entering into discussion or consultation about any Competitor or any other aspect of the Competition with members of the public or any other external parties, either directly, indirectly or via social media.
15.4. The Leeds relies on the personal and individual judgement of each member of the Jury. Accordingly, members of the Jury will not discuss, confer or consult with each other regarding the Competitors during the duration of the Competition.
15.5. The Jury will vote by secret ballot. The members of the Jury will not, under any circumstances, inform each other of votes awarded.
15.6. The decisions of the Jury in each Round will be recorded in minutes signed by the Voting Official.
15.7. The Chair of the Jury will announce the results of all the public Rounds of the Competition held in Leeds, accurately reflecting the decisions of the Jury.
15.8. From the Second Round forward, each member of the Jury will be available to give feedback to each eliminated Competitor.
16. VOTING PROCESS
16.1. All voting and tallying operations are carried out in secret. The Jury’s decision is final. Details of the Jury members’ individual voting remains confidential and is not revealed to the members of the Jury.
16.2. The Operations Director reserves the right to confer with the Chair and Artistic Director if a vote is subject to misinterpretation.
16.3. At the end of each stage, and without any discussion, the Jury (including the Chair) will vote on the Competitors to be admitted to the next stage, or in the case of the Finals, on the ranking of the five Finalists.
16.4. From the Second Round forward, it is expected that all members of the Jury will be available to discuss each eliminated Competitor’s performance with the Competitor in question at the end of each stage, up to and including the Semi-Finals. This will be carried out in complete confidence.
16.5. The Panel/Juries will vote on the following:
- The 60 Competitors to progress to the International First Round
- The 24 Competitors to progress to the Second Round
- The 10 Competitors to progress to the Semi-Finals
- The 5 Competitors to progress to the Finals
- The ranking of the 5 Finalists
16.6. Votes are recorded on the ballot paper provided and signed. It is the responsibility of the Operations Director to check that each ballot paper has been correctly completed if technically invalid.
16.7. The ballot papers will be signed by members of the Jury and then placed securely in the organisational archives by the Voting Official.
16.8. Any Jury member who has a pupil competing in the Competition is not qualified to cast a vote for that Competitor (subject to Rule 14.6). That member shall mark an X in the appropriate voting paper should they feel that the Competitor merits a place in the next round, rather than recording a vote for another Competitor. That X will not be counted as a vote.
16.9. The number of votes cast for each Competitor is entered electronically onto the electronic voting sheet by the Operations Director and supervised by the appointed Voting Official. The votes cast for each Competitor are calculated and expressed as a percentage of the total votes cast for the Competitor, divided by the number of jurors voting, after subtracting the relevant number of votes and numbers of jurors disqualified from voting under the provision of Rule 14.6
16.10. The ranking of Competitors shall be determined taking into account every decimal point of the Competitor’s percentages.
16.11. In the event of a tie for the last places to be filled a second ballot will be held for those Competitors in the tie to select the required number of Competitors. Each juror will have the number of votes equal to the number of places remaining to be filled, again subject to the provision of Rule 14.6. If the result is still indecisive, the Competitor(s) with the lowest number of votes will be eliminated and another ballot held for the remaining Competitors. This process will be continued until all remaining places are filled. If an exactly similar tie results after two successive ballots, The Chair of the Jury shall use a casting vote to decide between the tied Competitors.
16.12. In the event that a tie for the last places to be filled involves a Competitor who is a pupil of a jury member, that jury member will abstain from the second ballot. If the second ballot still results in a tie, the Chair of the Jury will have the casting vote.
16.13. For the Pre-Selection Round and International First Round, the results of the voting will be communicated to the selected Competitors by the Operations Director in the week following the ballot.
16.14. For the Leeds Rounds, (Second Round, Semi-Finals and Finals) the Chair of the Jury will announce the final results of each of the three stages to the Jury. After this announcement there can be no discussion or revote. For the Second Round and Semi-Finals, the names of the successful Competitors shall be announced in alphabetical order without any indication of the number of votes cast or of percentages of ranking within the list. For the Finals the names will be announced in reverse order of ranking.
16.15. Pre-selection
16.15.1. The Operations Director in consultation with the Artistic Director will check that each audio file meets the requirements of Articles 6 and 7 of these rule in order to ensure that the recording is genuine and that it provides the information that the Pre-selection Panel need to evaluate the applicant’s ability.
16.15.2. A panel of four members under the Chair of the Artistic Director will consider all the applications and select 60 to progress to the International First Round.
16.16. International First Round
16.16.1. A Jury of 4 members under the Chair of the Artistic Director will listen to the 60 Competitors in Berlin, Singapore and New York.
16.16.2. In the ballot at the end of the First International Round, all four members of the Jury will have 24 votes, all of which must be used. No Competitor can receive more than 1 vote by any member of the Jury.
16.17. Second Round
16.17.1. For the Second Round, Semi-Finals and Finals a Jury of 9 members under the Chair of Imogen Cooper will listen to the Competitors.
16.17.2. Following the final Competitor performance of the Second Round, the members of the Jury will vote for the 10 Competitors they wish to progress to the Semi-Finals.
16.18. Semi-Finals
16.18.1. Following the final Competitor performance of the Semi-Finals Round, the members of the Jury will vote by secret ballot for the 5 Competitors they wish to progress to the Finals.
16.18.2. The Jury will also vote at this stage for the winner of the Yaltah Menuhin Chamber Music Award, awarded for the best performance of Chamber Music in the Semi-Finals. The winner of this Prize will be announced after the Finals along with the other Prize announcements.
16.19. Concerto Finals
16.19.1. The award of all prizes in the Final Stage will be based on the performances of the Competitors in the final three stages of the Competition.
16.19.2. After the performances of all finalists the Jury will vote for each prize in order of ranking, from First Prize to Fifth Prize.
16.19.3. First Prize and Waterman Gold Medal:
The Jury votes first for the winner of the First Prize only, each member of the Jury having one vote subject to the provision of Rule 1.6. The Competitor with the highest number of votes will be declared as the First Prize-winner.
In the event of a tie between two or more Competitors, a second ballot will be held for those Competitors involved in the tie to select the First Prize winner. If an exactly similar tie results after two successive ballots, the Chair of the Jury shall use a casting vote to decide the First Prize-winner.
16.19.4. Second and subsequent prizes:
Similar ballots are held for the remaining prizes, each prize having a separate ballot with the same provision made for ties. These procedures will continue until all prizes have been awarded.
16.19.5. Medici.tv Audience Prize:
The Medici.tv Audience Prize is voted online by members of the public worldwide and will be announced along with the other prizes.
16.19.6. Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Prize:
The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Prize is voted for by members of the orchestra and will be announced along with the other prizes.