National Campus Band Competition

The National Campus Band Competition is an annual Australian national band competition produced by the Australian Association of Campus Activities. To enter the competition, one band member must be enrolled at a participating university. In 2006, the overall winner of the competition received $8,000 worth of equipment, 3 days studio time and 3,000 mastered and duplicated CD’s.

The first Adelaide Student Band Competition was held in 1983 and the Victorian Student Band Competition was held in 1986, after an observation by Activities Officers on campus, that there were hundreds of student bands with nowhere to play, and needed an extra incentive to have a go. The brain-child of a bunch of Campus Activities Officers was enacted by posters on campus, and the response was staggering. The competition was such a success that by 1990 it went national.

Campus Activities in every state ran competitions on a local level, with the finalists playing it off at the University of NSW. The first national winner was Helvelln, who later signed to Mushroom Records. A crowd 2,000 attended the night backed by sponsorship from the National Aids Education Campaign Unit and National Youth Radio Station Triple J.

Since then, the National final has travelled around the country (Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Lismore, Adelaide and Wollongong) and the competition has attracted more and more bands, as well as receiving great kudos from the music industry.

As Michael Gudinski of Mushroom Records once said,

"The National Campus Band Competition is a great initiative. It gives new talent a chance for exposure. It is also a tremendous support to the Australian Music Industry."

Other notable bands which have competed in the National Campus Band Competition but didn't win the final for their respective year but have gone on to achieve national recording success include Frenzal Rhomb, george, Spiderbait, The Mavis's

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