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If you’re aged 12–18 and you write your own, original music, Inspire is here to kick-start your career as a composer! Brought to you by the BBC Proms, and incorporating the Young Composers’ Competition, Inspire is a scheme that will provide you with a friendly environment in which to share ideas, participate in workshops, meet other young composers, get feedback and develop your musical creativity.  Anyone who enters the Young Composers’ Competition can attend the Inspire Day, a day of workshops that will challenge and inspire you to compose in ways you’d never thought of, in London on 6 August.  Best of all, it’s all free!

- March – May 2008: Submit your entries
- 23 May 2008: deadline for entries to the competition
- July 2008: Winners announced
- 26 July 2008: Winners’ Day
- 6 August 2008: Inspire Day

About the competition
Now in its tenth year, the BBC Proms Inspire Young Composers’ Competition gives young composers aged 12–18 a chance to get their music heard by a wider audience. There are no restrictions on the type of music submitted – it can be classical, jazz, pop, instrumental, vocal, anything you like. The only condition is that it has to be written down, as someone else will perform it if you get to the final. Chosen by a panel of expert judges, the winning compositions are performed at the Young Composers’ Concert during the BBC Proms season and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. If you've won, you'll receive a commission to be performed and recorded by BBC musicians at the 2009 Inspire events, and you'll work with top composers and musicians in a series of workshops to develop your commission.

How to enter
- Entries should last no longer than 5 minutes.
- There are no restrictions on instrumentation, which may include acoustic and/or electronic instruments and computergenerated sounds.
- Scores should be no larger than A4.
- Entrants may enter only one composition.
- Entry forms are available from bbc.co.uk/proms, by calling 020 7765 2679 or emailing promslearning@bbc.co.uk.
- Send two musical scores of your composition, along with two CD recordings and an entry form to:
BBC Proms Inspire
Young Composers’ Competition,
14 Lakeside
PO BOX 105,
Rochester
Kent
ME2 4BE

The closing date for entries is 23 May 2008. Any entries received after this date will not be entered in the competition. For full rules and information, please visit www.bbc.co.uk/proms. Any entries received after this date will not be entered in the competition.

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