Rules

THE RULES OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION OF YOUNG MUSICIANS

(“Official Gazette of the City of Belgrade”, No. 53/2025)

Article 1

The INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION OF YOUNG MUSICIANS (hereinafter: the competition), an established cultural event with the status of importance for the City of Belgrade in the field of culture, is an international competition of musical artists up to 30 years of age, in accordance with designated categories.

The competition is held in Belgrade, once a year, in March.

Article 2

The goal of the competition is the selection of young musicians, the affirmation of domestic musical creativity and the encouragement, expansion and development of musical pedagogy, as well as raising the level of musical cultural establishment.

Article 3

The competition is open to young musicians, soloists and composers (who are under 30 years old) and chamber ensembles (whose individual members must be under 35 years old) from all continents, regardless of their national, social, linguistic or other affiliation.

Article 4

The competition does not have the status of a legal entity.

Article 5

The competition has a logo.

The logo of the competition represents the imaginary territory of the northeastern part of the globe with coordinates that indicate the cardinal directions, in the intersection of which there is a white dot whose projection is reflected in the northeastern part with two identical letters: "Б" and "В" (Cyrillic and Latin variants), which represent the initial letter of our capital Belgrade – the seat of the competition, and during the competition – the center of the musical life of the World.

The City of Belgrade decides on the change and use of the competition logo.

Article 6

On the promotional materials of the competition, it is mandatory to highlight the logo of the competition and the coat of arms of the City of Belgrade.

Article 7

The competition has a board.

The competition board has a president – a representative of the City of Belgrade and at least two and at most four members appointed by the Assembly of the City of Belgrade for a period of two years.

The competition board has the right to compensation for its work.

The amount of compensation is determined each year by the mayor of the city of Belgrade.

Article 8

The competition is represented by the president of the Competition Board or a person authorized by him, with the prior consent of the City of Belgrade.

Article 9

The competition board determines: the concept of the main, special and accompanying programs, makes suggestions for the creation of the catalog and other publications of the competition, if necessary, suggests collaborators who will propose the competition program to the competition board, adopts the event program and the amount of funds needed for the organisation of that program (program and estimate of costs), the competition’s marketing plan, determines the place, time and duration of the competition, submits a report to the mayor of the city of Belgrade on the held competition with a report on the spent and allocated funds and an opinion on the artistic level of the competition program, attendance, media campaign, etc., and performs other tasks related to the competition.

Article 10

The competition board submits the proposal of the program and estimate of competition costs to the organizational unit of the City Administration of the City of Belgrade responsible for cultural affairs no later than July 20 of the current year for the competition to be held in the following year.

The competition board is obliged to adopt the program and estimate of competition costs no later than 60 days before the start of the competition.

Article 11

Organizational, professional, administrative, financial and technical tasks for the needs of the competition are performed by a legal entity entrusted with the performance of these tasks by the City of Belgrade.

The contract from paragraph 1 of this article is concluded by the head of the organizational unit of the City Administration of the City of Belgrade responsible for cultural affairs.

The supervision of the performance of entrusted tasks is carried out by the organisational unit of the City Administration of the City of Belgrade responsible for cultural affairs.

Article 12

The report on the held competition with a report on spent and allocated funds and an opinion on the artistic level of the competition program, attendance, media campaign, etc., is submitted by the competition board to the Mayor of the city of Belgrade through the organisational unit of the City Administration of the City of Belgrade responsible for cultural affairs, no later than 60 days after the end of the competition.

Article 13

Funds for the competition are provided in the budget of the City of Belgrade, based on the reviewed program and an estimate of the costs of the competition, together with other needs in the field of culture for which funds are provided in the budget of the City of Belgrade.

In addition to the funds from paragraph 1 of this article, the Competition Board provides funds for the competition from other sources, in accordance with the law.

Article 14

The former Rules of the International Music Youth Competition (“Official Gazette of the City of Belgrade”, number 12/23) cease to be valid with the entry into force of these rules.

Article 15

These rules of the INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION OF YOUNG MUSICIANS come into force on the eighth day from the day of publication in the “Official Gazette of the City of Belgrade”.

• The competition will be held in Belgrade, from December 7 to 17, 2026. All performances will be public.
• All compositions within the official program must be fully prepared.
• All registered competitors who pay the registration fee are automatically entitled to participate in the first stage.
• Competitors perform according to the order determined by the draw. The draw will be held before the opening of the Competition, in the presence of competitors and members of the jury. The order of performances will be respected during the first and the second stage of the Competition. In the final stage, the order may be changed due to the program schedule.
• Competitors who are not ready to perform when called may be disqualified.
• All rights to performances, recordings and videos from the Competition belong to the organizer of the competition and the competitors are not compensated for these performances, recordings or their broadcasting.
• All participants must be available to media representatives during the Competition.
• The Competition Committee reserves the right to cancel the Competition if there are less than 6 registered candidates.
• At the end of each stage, all participants are required to be present when the results are announced.

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• The competition is open to violists of all nationalities who have not reached the age of 30 by December 7, 2026. Candidates will not be evaluated on ideological, linguistic, political, religious, racial, gender or sexual criteria.
• Candidates should submit the following documents:

a) duly completed application form or online registration
b) a short biography
c) copies of documents confirming the candidate’s musical education and copies of awards/diplomas
d) recommendations from current or former professors (optional)
e) one recent high-resolution photo – which will be used for promotional purposes..

All documents must be sent no later than September 20, 2026, via email:

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

• The competitors are responsible for their own travel and accommodation costs.
• Registered candidates should pay the registration fee in the amount of 100 EUR by September 20, 2026, exclusively through the Tickets.rs platform

Payment must be made exclusively in EUR. All transfer costs are borne by the candidate. It is recommended to check the amount of the international transfer commission with the bank. The application fee is non-refundable.

• Each participant will be required to show a valid identification document during registration on December 7, 2026, before the start of the Competition. I agree that this data is stored for the purpose of processing my application for the 53^rd International Competition of Young Musicians.

• The jury awards prizes to the most successful competitors:
- 1st prize: 10 000 EUR
- 2nd prize: 5 000 EUR
- 3rd prize: 3 000 EUR
• The jury can award two special prizes:
- for the best Serbian competitor in the finals
- for the best performance of the given composition
• All prizes are indivisible.
• The jury may decide not to award one or more prizes.
• The jury decides on the admission of the competitors to the second and the third (final) stages, as well as on the awarding of prizes. The jury’s decisions are final and do not subject to any questions, revision or appeal.
• Jury members will not contact or communicate with competitors while they are still in the competition process.
• A maximum of 12 competitors with the highest number of points won in the first stage will be admitted to the second stage.
• A maximum of 6 competitors with the highest number of points won in the second stage will be admitted to the third (final) stage.
• The names of the competitors who have been admitted to the second and the third stage will be announces immediately after the jury makes its decision, at the end of corresponding stage. The names will be announced in order of appearance. The number of points of the competitors will not be made public.
• The three competitors with the highest number of points in the final stage will receive the first, the second and the third prize, according to the achieved number of points, as well as diplomas confirming the status of the awarded candidate. Candidates who enter the final stage will receive a diploma for the participation in the finals.