Competitions
The National Piping Centre Junior Piping Competition 2022
This annual event, held at The National Piping Centre, celebrates the best in young piping, from all pipers aged Under 18.
For 2022, this event will return to an in-person event format at The National Piping Centre venues at McPhater and Otago Street on Saturday 19th February 2022. Events will be capped at 30 entries per event, so enter as soon as possible to guarantee your space.
There will also be another Freestyle competition, which was first run as part of the 2021 online event. This event will once again be online video submission. Results for all categories will be announced at the end of the day of competition.
COVID Safety at Our Event
The NPC Junior Piping Competition will go ahead as planned on Saturday 19th February, as the adverse weather forecast seems to be improving. We would like to ask everyone who attends - competitors, parents/guardians, tutors - to be aware of our COVID-19 mitigations.Â
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If you havenât already been through this process on the Government website, we would suggest a trial run as the initial online registration process can be quite time consuming.Tests can be ordered online for free, or collected from most pharmacies.
The NPC 2022 Junior Competition is now CLOSED FOR ENTRIES
The events will be:
Category A - 15 - 17 years - at McPhater Street
1. Piobaireachd
2. March, Strathspey and Reel
3. Jig
Category B - Under 15 years - at McPhater Street
4. Piobaireachd
5. Piobaireachd Ground
6. March
7. Strathspey and Reel
Categpry c - Chanter - at Otago Street
8. March
9. Slow Air
Category D - Freestyle event
10. Online Freestyle event - video submission
The Freestyle event is open to all competitors across all age categories. Competitors in this event are encouraged to think creatively about the production and musical content of their submission. Pipes or practice chanter must be the main feature of the perfomance but the use of additional instrumentation, multiple pipe parts, video editing etc are all permitted. Videos will be judged with due consideration to the whole package. Video submissions in this category must be between 3-5mins in length. Go to the Caegory D information for below on how to send us your video.
Event Timetable
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Event Registration is now open - scroll down to the green Enter Here button - from Friday 12th November 2021 and will close at the latest at 5pm on Friday 4th February 2022.
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Event Submissions for the Freestyle event must be recieved between 9am UK time on Saturday 5th February until 5pm UK time on Friday 11th February 2022.
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Results Announcement will be at The National Piping Centre, McPhater Street around 6.30pm on Saturday 19th February, on conclusion of the day's events . The results will be available to read in full on Bagpipe.News shortly after the announcement
Entry Guidelines
Entry fees are ÂŁ7.50 per event.
- Entries will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis.
- Competitors may enter in ONE category only from categories A, B and C. Category D can be entered by all players in any category alongside their category A, B or C entry.
- Entries will be limited to 30 in each event, with the exception of Event 6, where more will be allowed at the discretion of the organisers.
- All competitors in Event 2, Event 6 and Event 7 must play tunes with a minimum of 4 parts.
- Any event with too few competitors may be cancelled at the discretion of the organisers.
- The draw will be emailed to competitors the week prior to the competition.
- The Junior Championship will be decided on the highest aggregate score from Events 1, 2 and 3. In the event of a tie the overall award will be given to the competitor with the highest Piobaireachd placing.
- The Novice Championship will be decided on the highest aggregate score from Events 4, 6 and 7. In the event of a tie the overall award will be given to the competitor with the highest Piobaireachd placing.
- Competitors may only enter event 4 or event 5 in category B.
- The Chanter Championship will be decided on the highest aggregate score from Events 8 and 9.
- The Freestyle event will not count towards the overall championship in any age category
- If a competitor wins the overall Chanter Championship in a year, they cannot compete in the chanter competitions following and must move up a category.Â
- Event day timings will be given when the event draw is sent out.
- Please report to stewards on arrival. Running times may vary, so it is advisable that competitors arrive well in advance.
- It is the responsibility of competitors to maintain contact with their steward.
- Competitors should be ready to play when called upon to do so.
If you have any queries, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 0141 353 0220
Category Information
Category A - Junior Championship
Open to all pipers aged 15-17 inclusive
Event 1 - Piobaireachd
Event 2 - March, Strathspey & Reel
Event 3 - Jig
- For all events in this category, 1 of each type of tune should be submitted. In events 2 and 3, all tunes must have a minimum of four parts.
- The Junior Champion will be decided on the highest aggregate score from events 1, 2 and 3.
- In the event of a tie the overall award will be given to the competitor with the highest Piobaireachd placing.
- Highland Dress is required for Category A events.
- Category A competitions to be held at The National Piping Centre, McPhater Street Venue
Category B - Novice Championship
Open to all pipers aged under 15
Event 4 - Piobaireachd
Event 5 - Piobaireachd - ground only
Event 6 - March
Event 7 - Strathspey & Reel
- Competitors in category may enter EITHER Event 4 OR Event 5
- For all events in this category, only one of each type of tune should be submitted.
- In events 6 and 7, all tunes must have a minimum of four parts.
- Competitors may not enter both events 4 and 5. The Novice Champion will be decided on the highest aggregate score from events 4, 6 and 7. In the event of a tie the overall award will be given to the competitor with the highest Piobaireachd placing.
- Highland Dress is required for Category B events.
- Category B competitions to be held at The National Piping Centre, McPhater Street Venue
Category C - Chanter Contest
Event 8 - March, two parts only
Event 9 - Slow air,two parts only
- For events in this category only one type of each tune should be submitted.
- Competitors can enter both events. Competitors who have previously won the overall Chanter Champion cannot enter these events.
- For Category C Highland Dress is recommended but not required
- Chanter competition to be held at The National Piping Centre, Otago Street Venue
Please note: Entries will be limited to 30 per event, for all events, on a first come first served basis. Any event that does not have enough competitors may be cancelled on the day. Entry to events will only be made on receipt of payment.
Category D â Freestyle Competition â Online submission
Event 10 â Online Freestyle event â Video submission
- This event is entered as a standalone event and can be entered in conjunction with one other category.
- Performance can be on pipes or practice chanter, but the recording must feature pipes/practice chanter.
- Will be open across all age categories.
- Videos must be 3-5 minutes in length and can be made in more than one take/edited to include any takes or video overlays etc.
- There are no rules in terms of tune styles to play. This is a creative event, where competitors can write, arrange, include other instruments. It must include bagpipes or practice chanter.
- Highland Dress is not required for this category
For the Freestyle event a video about how to upload your recordings is below. Once you have uploaded your unlisted video, and got the email code, please email them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Results Announcement
Results Announcement will be online at around 7pm on Saturday 19th February, on conclusion of the day's events. Competitiors will be emailed with details to watch.The results will be available to read in full on Bagpipe.News shortly after the announcement
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Hearing Protection
The National Piping Centre requires all students to use hearing protection at all times when playing pipes. Hearing protection is available for purchase in our shop or free of charge from the earplug dispenser in both our piping school venues.Â
Find out more
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