Composers across the county, and even the nation, have just weeks to submit their musical entries for the prestigious Cornwall International Male Choral Festival Composers’ Competition.

The biennial festival’s hotly contested composers’ event is open to all contenders living and resident in the UK with an aim to encourage talent and seek out top original works for male choirs of any age or background.

The competition closes on March 26 and carries a prize of £1,000 for the winning entry, which will have its world premiere during next year’s festival between April 26 and May 1. For details, or to download an entry form, visit cimcf.uk/2016composers.html.

“Time flies and after the roaring success of last year’s festival we’re well into planning for our 2017 event,” said festival director Rob Elliott. “The quality of entries for our composers’ competition is always incredibly high and we can’t wait to hear what the next generation of festival music will sound like.”

The Swiss choir Mannerstimmen Basel won the festival’s Champion Choir Prize for 2015, while composer Ian Assersohn’s setting for a much-loved Tennyson poem was the winning piece of new music chosen from among 40 entries in the last composers’ competition.

The 2015 festival saw 2,500 singers in 70 choirs of all ages and nationalities converge on Cornwall, bringing their own cultures and songs to entertain more than 45,000 people in theatres, churches, gardens, and castles from Bude to Land’s End and Porthleven to Saltash.

For more information on the Cornwall International Male Choral Festival, or for anyone wishing to offer support, visit cimcf.uk or contact Rob Elliott by emailing rob@cimcf.uk.