Isle of Wight acts will be able to join Elton John at this year's Bestival. Picture by Emerson Loew.
TALENTED Isle of Wight musicians will once again be given the chance to play this year's Bestival, alongside some of the top names in music.
The Bestival bands and DJs competition is back for 2013 — in conjunction with County Press youth website, Yoppul, and training provider HTP — and it's bigger than ever, with two new categories for choirs and spoken word artists or beatboxers.
Bestival curator and Radio One DJ Rob da Bank decided to add the new categories after he was inspired by the talent on display at his Music Club nights, the free event held each month at Quay Arts with the Isle of Wight Youth Trust for Island teenagers.
He said: "My Music Club has been a real eye-opener over the past year, with so much great talent coming through the doors.
"I’ve really noticed that it’s not just that young people want to be in a band or DJ, but that they really just want to get involved with music in any way they can. So we've decided to open out the categories a bit — adding in spoken word, beatboxing and even a choir category — which means we can give even more talented Islanders a chance to be at Bestival, get on-stage and wow people!
"I can’t wait to hear the entries."
The prize on offer for each of the four category winners will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform at this year's Bestival and share the bill with superstars including Snoop Dogg and Elton John.
The winning band will play the Main Stage at the Robin Hill spectacular, the DJ will play the Hidden Disco, the choir the Big Top and the spoken word artist or beatboxer the Amphitheatre.
Once Rob has shortlisted his favourite acts, a grand final will be held at Northwood House, Cowes, on May 16. The finalists will be judged by Rob himself and a panel of celebrities, including Level 42's Mark King.
Competitors must submit their entries — an MP3 file of no more than 6MB in size, of one track or a DJ set of no more than 20 minutes — by 12.01am on April 1.
Entry forms can be downloaded below:
Band — www.mediafire.com/view/?ooi78nmv721w2z7
DJ — www.mediafire.com/view/?36ava58tlkilzif
Choir — www.mediafire.com/view/?2bcoqjnc9l9cilx
Spoken Word — www.mediafire.com/view/?uptt9btgkdxhn9x
Beatboxer — www.mediafire.com/view/?64m7ksd3mi4cajm
All entrants must be full-time residents of the Isle of Wight. The entries will be fully vetted and any entrants who do not meet the Island-only criteria will be disqualified.