Background
Each year since 1961, a Novice Quartet contest, administered and judged by a single panel of SPEBSQSA certified Judges using current scoring categories, has been held on the last Saturday in February. It was originated by the old Westfield, NJ Chapter  and since their merger with Iselin in 1988, it has been sponsored by the merged chapter- the  Rahway Valley "JerseyAires" , based in Rahway, NJ. It is free and open to the public in the Roosevelt Grammer School auditorium that holds about 400-500 people.  The address of the school is 811 St Georges Avenue (Route 27- between Lake Ave. and Stanton St.) in Rahway NJ.  The contest is usually conducted before a wildly, enthusiastic audience that nearly fills the house. 

The contest is open to all Mid-Atlantic District quartets who fall within the definition of Novice. That is, no more than two participants may have sung together in the same quartet in competition at District level or higher. 

Historically, many newly formed competing quartets have used this as their  final "warm-up"  before participating in MA-D's Int'l Prelims (which is usually about two weeks later) because of the quality of the hints and coaching they receive. 

Following the contest,  the Judges scores are tabulated, printed and distributed to quartet contestants. An afterglow sponsored by the Rahway Valley Chapter as well as an Evaluation (formerly A & R) session  with the Judges takes place in the school. 

1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishers  will receive Gold, Silver and Bronze medals respectively. In addition, the 1st place Quartet will also receive the Annual Ben Ackermann Memorial Trophy from the previous year's winning quartet. They will keep it for a year before presenting it to the next year's winners. The winning quartet  agrees to return the following year as our featured quartet and is requested to perform for approximately fifteen minutes. 

Entry Information

A maximum of 15 contestants has been established by the Judges for this contest. Competitors are chosen based on valid entries received on a first received, first entered basis. Singing position will be determined by lot and contestants notified. Based on the long history of this event, a waiting list will be established of valid entries received. A valid entry includes the information requested on the registration form that follows along with a $20.00/quartet entrance fee payable to the "Rahway Valley JerseyAires-SPEBSQSA". 

Both must be received prior to the cutoff date of January 15, 2000 or the entry will be considered void and the next valid quartet entry on the waiting list will be substituted. It can be mailed to: 
John Huetz, 36 Courter Ave., Maplewood, NJ 07040. Any questions?  You can call John at (973) 761-4965, or e-mail him helenlan@erols.com