LABBS Trophies

Quartet and Chorus awards

Various trophies are up for the winning every year that a contest takes place.  Read all about what they are awarded for and the criteria for success.  This information was extracted from the current Contest & Judging Handbook.
 

Quartet Trophies and Awards

The LABBS Champion Quartet Trophy - Gold Medallist Quartet

A trophy for the LABBS Champion Quartet. Presented by the LABBS Chairman or, if competing in the quartet finals, by another member of the LABBS Board. The Gold Medallist Quartet also receives a cash award from main account.

The Holland Harmony Trophy - Silver Medallist Quartet

Donated by Holland Harmony.
 

The Guildford Harmony Trophy - Bronze Medallist Quartet

Donated by Guildford Harmony.
 

The Indigo Blue Trophy - Highest Marks in Singing 

Donated by Indigo Blue – 2000 Gold Medallist Quartet,, for the highest marks in the singing category over the semi-finals and finals rounds.
 

The Pzazz Trophy - Highest Marks in Performance 

A new trophy donated by Pzazz! – 2015 Gold Medallist Quartet, for the highest marks in the performance category over the semi-finals and finals rounds.
 

The Crackerjack! Trophy - Highest Marks in Music

Donated by Crackerjack! – 1999 Gold Medallist Quartet, for the highest marks in the music category over the semi-finals and finals rounds.
 

The Tapestry Award - Most Improved Quartet

Donated by Tapestry – 1991 Gold Medallist Quartet.  After Tapestry’s Lead, Val Clarke, died of cancer, the remaining members of the quartet donated this award to be presented to the quartet with the highest percentage improvement in marks from the previous year’s contest to the current one. This improvement is measured from Prelims to Prelims in consecutive years. This ensures that all quartets who compete in consecutive years are eligible. The award will be made during the announcement of results at the Prelims contest, and also mentioned during the announcement of quartet results at Convention.
 

The Blue Chords Trophy - Novice Quartet

Donated by the Blue Chords – 1977 Gold Medallist Quartet. Awarded to the Novice Quartet gaining the highest ranking over all rounds in an annual contest cycle (i.e. prelims, semi-finals and finals).
 

The LABBS Youth Quartet Trophy

Awarded to the winner of the youth quartet contest, presented at Prelims. To be eligible as a youth quartet all members need to be aged 25 or under on the date of the contest.
 

The LABBS Senior Quartet Trophy

Awarded to the winner of the senior quartet contest, presented at Prelims. To be eligible as a senior quartet all members need to be aged 55 or over on the date of the contest and with a minimum aggregate age of 240 years. 
 

QC’s Trophy

Donated by the QCs in 2010. Awarded to the winner of the Past Quartet Champions Contest, in any year that the contest has taken place.

 

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Chorus Trophies and Awards

The Brighton Rose Bowl -  Champion Chorus 

The Brighton Rose Bowl was donated by LABBS and is always presented by the LABBS Chairman.  The Champion Chorus also receives a cash award from the LABBS main account. 
 

The White Rosettes Trophy  -  Second Place Chorus

Donated by Leeds Ladies Barbershop Harmony Club.
 

The Harmony Incorporated Trophy  - Third Place Chorus

Donated by Harmony Incorporated.
 

The Liverpool Trophy  -  Highest Singing Marks

Donated originally for the highest marks in the Sound Category by Liverpool Ladies Barbershop Singers, this is now awarded for the current category of Singing.
 

The Westering Trophy  -  Highest Performance Marks

Donated, originally for the highest marks in the Stage Presence category, by the Westering BABS Chorus “The Shy Guys” who were well known for their fantastic visual performance.
 

The Music Trophy  -  Highest Music Marks

Donated by the E&J Committee for the highest marks in the Music category.
 

The Millennium Award – Most Improved Chorus

Donated for the Millennium Contest in 2000 by Sue Livesey, the current Chairman at that time, to the chorus with the highest percentage improvement in marks from the previous convention to the current convention. To be eligible, a chorus must compete in consecutive conventions.
 

The Cheshire Chord Trophy – Director of Most Improved Chorus

Donated by Cheshire Chord Company to the most improved director.  As the only way of monitoring this is by the improvement in chorus marks, the proviso was added that it must be the same director as the previous year.
 

The Phoenix Trophy  -  Small Chorus Award

Donated by Potton Barbershop Harmony Club. Awarded to the highest placed “small” chorus with up to 25 members on stage (including MD(s)). The maximum number of members may be reviewed from time to time.
 

The Red Rosettes Award - Awarded to the highest placed “mid-size” chorus

Donated, originally for Encouragement, by Preston Ladies Barbershop Singers after being the first winners of the Saturday morning contest which was held in the early years for choruses which did not qualify for the main contest. It was then awarded to the chorus at the top of Division 3 or the highest placed chorus moving from Division 3 to Division 2, before being repurposed for mid-size choruses in 2014.  The size of the division is reviewed from time to time.
 

The Peter Caller Award  -  Awarded to the highest placed “large” chorus 

Donated by Tyneside LBHC in memory of Peter, a talented musician, who was introduced to barbershop by his university colleague Bunny Bainbridge in 1974 and during his 17 years as Chorus Director achieved LABBS Champion Chorus three times.  Peter qualified as an Interpretation Judge for LABBS and was a well-known character within LABBS and Holland, especially for his unforgettable Ad Hoc performances.  The award was originally for the chorus scoring nearest to but not more than 750 marks on a double panel. It was then awarded to the chorus at the top of Division 2, or the highest placed chorus moving from Division 2 to Division 1, before being repurposed for large choruses in 2014. The size of the division is reviewed from time to time.
 

The Harmony InSpires Novice Chorus Trophy – Awarded to the highest placed chorus with the highest percentage of new members.

The original trophy was donated by Reading Ladies Barbershop Singers to the Novice Chorus with the highest marks, with a later criterion added that at least 75% of the chorus must be competing for the first time in a LABBS contest.  The trophy has now been replaced by a trophy donated by Oxford (previously Wantage) Barbershop Harmony Club, the last winners of the Reading Barberettes Trophy.  

From 2014 the trophy has been awarded to the chorus with highest percentage of new LABBS members who are competing for the first time, in any contest run by a barbershop organisation. It is calculated by adding the simple percentage of new members on stage (e.g. a chorus of 30 which includes 6 new members has 20% new members) to the inverse number of the rank achieved. The highest score wins and in the event of a tie, the trophy is awarded to the chorus with the highest percentage of new members.

Formula: % new members on stage + (Total competitors – rank + 1) = Score 
Note: the formula used for the ranking score is not a simple subtraction otherwise last place would come out as zero and first place would score 1 less than the actual inverse placing. So for example if 30 choruses are competing, first place scores 30 for that element of the formula, last place scores 1, 5th place scores 26 etc. The “+1” element of the formula preserves the inverse numbers of the ranking order correctly.

Example 1:
New LABBS Chorus has 2 experienced founder members, including the MD, and 18 novice members, and placed 25th out of 30 competitors.
Example 2:
Established chorus of 45 existing members ran a learn to sing course and gained 15 new members on stage to total 60 including the MD, and placed 4th out of 30 competitors.