Division II - Bylaws

Statement of Philosophy
The purpose for the establishment of the Division II State Band Championship is to provide our bands with a high-quality, prestigious event in which each participant has a reasonable chance to win the top awards. It is our hope that every band student and band supporter involved in this event will display good sportsmanship and will strive to pursue excellence in pride and behavior as well as in performance.

Rules and Guidelines

All participating schools must have an enrollment of 480-1000 students or be a member in the Division II system. Bands from all schools that have an enrollment of 0-480 students or would qualify for the Division I Contest may choose to “play up” and are welcome at this event. However, if a Division I Band competes at the Division I Championship during a particular school year, this band will not be eligible for the Division II Championship in that same school year. The most recent available enrollment figures by the state department of education (the previous school year’s numbers or better) will determine classification.

The date for the event will be the first Saturday in November of each year.

The total number of bands accepted for the preliminary competition will be 28. The host will accept first 28 qualified bands according to postmark. The host band will not compete but may give an exhibition performance as scores are being tabulated.

With the exception of unforeseen last-minute cancellations, all judges will be from out of state and contracted by the host band.

Judging will follow a caption system with two judges per caption and one judge each for the percussion, color guard and field commander, with points and percentages allocated as follows:

40 points Music – 2 judges	(32% of Total score)
30 points Marching & Maneuvering – 2 judges	(24% of Total score)
20 points Music General Effect – 1 judge	(16% of Total score)
10 points Visual General Effect – 1 judge	(8% of Total score)
10 points Percussion – 1 judge	(8% of Total score)
10 points Color Guard – 1 judge	(8% of Total score)
5 points Field Commander – 1 judge	(4% of Total score)
125 points Total	100% Total

Top three rankings for the Percussion, Color Guard and Field Commander captions will be awarded for preliminary competition. Top ranking for the Percussion, Color Guard and Field Commander captions will be awarded for the final competition. Scores from all captions will be counted for both the preliminary and final competitions.

Ratings Scale: Superior (I) = 80-100
Excellent (II) = 60-79.9
Good (III) = 40-59.9
Fair (IV) = 20-39.9

All preliminary Superior and Excellent ratings and the number averages of each band in finals will be announced at the awards ceremony following the finals competition. No ratings will be announced until after the finals competition. In determination of the State Champion, only the finals scores will be used.
Each band in the preliminary competition will receive a participation plaque and a trophy for each Superior rating

All finalist bands will receive a placement trophy. The first place trophy will be no less than 66 inches tall and all other trophies will drop in size by four inches per place.

All ties for overall placement will be broken in the following manner:
1. First, music scores
2. Second, marching scores
3. Third, general effect scores

The Governor’s Challenge Cup is given to the State Champion for one year. It is to be returned the following year and replaced with a plaque. This cup can never be retired. The Traveling Snare will be issued each year to the top Percussion Caption in the same manner as the Governor’s Challenge Cup. However, the Traveling Snare can be retired if the same unit wins it for three consecutive years. The Traveling Silver Platter will be issued to the top Color Guard Caption in the same manner as the Traveling Snare.

Each application may be sent through U.S. mail, delivery company, facsimile or electronic means. The postmark or timestamp of the entry forms will determine order of performance in the preliminary competition. The earliest postmark will perform next to last. The previous year’s champion will have the option to perform last in the preliminary competition. Entries postmarked or timestamped on the same date will be drawn for placement. The host will determine the entry deadline, and entries cannot be received before Labor Day of each year.

If there are twenty (20) or more entries for preliminary competition, the ten (10) bands with the highest score in the preliminary competition will be asked to compete in the finals competition. Should one of the top ten wish not to compete, the eleventh-place band will be asked. This process will be repeated until the ten finalist positions are filled.

If there are nineteen (19) or fewer entries for preliminary competition, the eight (8) bands with the highest score in the preliminary competition will be asked to compete in the finals competition. Should one of the top eight wish not to compete, the ninth-place band will be asked. This process will be repeated until the eight finalist positions are filled.

Following the preliminary competition, the finalist bands will be announced (in order of preliminary appearance). No numerical scores or score sheets will be given out until the end of the finals competition. Judges tapes will be made available at the end of the preliminary competition.

The finalist bands will draw for performance positions in finals. The last finalist band from the preliminary competition will draw first for finals and cannot perform first in finals competition. The remaining finalist bands will draw in their preliminary performance order.

Adjudication score sheets, preliminary competition results, and final competition results will be furnished to each participating band at the end of the contest awards ceremony. However, all audio and videotapes will be available at the end of the preliminary competition.

Each band must report to the field entrance gate at the bands scheduled performance time. Each band will have a total of 15 minutes to enter, perform, and exit completely from the playing surface.

The following violations will result in a participating band’s numerical score being lowered by one-half (.50) point:
1. Reporting late to the field entrance gate.
2. Rehearsal or warm-up in undesignated areas.
3. Failure to leave warm-up areas at the proper time.
4. Exceeding the 15-minute time period.

Profits from the gate, program (sales and ads), concessions, evening meals, and other sales (shirts, souvenirs, etc…) will go to the host.

Each participating band is required to pay $50.00 plus $1 per student entry fee. The band will receive a reasonable number of complementary tickets for chaperones and bus drivers.

The host band will have external control (judges, money, tickets, programs, etc…) and the Division II association will have internal control (rules, dates, site, etc…) of the event.

The host band is required to select a Chief Adjudicator that will manage the nine caption judges and the one soloist judge. The Chief Adjudicator is not to judge any caption or soloist area.

The host band is required to select all Caption Adjudicators (those judges that affect the overall scores and placements in the contest) along the Chief Adjudicator from one or various judges’ associations.
To ensure consistency for the contest and to adapt rule changes from year to year, there will be a meeting of all Division II band directors during the TMEA Convention time during the spring. This meeting will take place on Wednesday of TMEA at 5:00 pm. There will be an Executive Committee consisting of all participating band directors from the previous contest and the host director. Each school is asked to send a representative, and each school represented will have voting powers on the proposed changes, one vote per school.