Borough Press launches singing competition

The Borough Press has launched a competition to find an all-female choir to sing on the audiobook of The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir, the debut novel by Jennifer Ryan.

With music playing "such an important part" in the novel, senior audio editor Fionnuala Barrett felt the production merited "something more than the spoken word alone". She said: "Music is at the heart of Jennifer’s novel, and I couldn’t pass up the unique opportunity to give her audience a chance to hear that music for themselves in the audiobook. I am very excited to listen to the results of our search to find our very own Chilbury ladies’ choir!”

Set in the Kentish village of Chilbury during the Second World War, The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir is a “heart-warming and wonderfully spirited novel” told through the journals and letters of four women who are part of a ladies village choir, reformed after the vicar closed the choir due to its male singers leaving for war.

The choir will be asked to sing four short pieces for soprano and alto which represent pivotal moments in the novel.

Ryan said: “I'm delighted that choirs around the country will be singing some of my favourite songs from the book. It'll be a joy to listen to them all, and hear the winner on the final audiobook.”

Entrants are invited to send a minimum 40 second recording of their choir singing any song with harmonies to singforchilbury@harpercollins.co.uk by 27th November. Recordings made on phones are sufficient. Entrants are also asked to provide a 100 word statement telling us what their choir means to them, and to include the number of singers in the group.

The entries will be judged by Barrett and Ryan. The deadline for entries is 27th November and the winning choir will be notified no later than 14th December. They must be available to record the audiobook soundtrack on Saturday 14th January 2017. Further information is available from the Borough Press website.

The successful choir will win an all-expenses paid trip to London, including travel, lunch on arrival, a professional studio recording, and celebratory cocktails afterward, plus physical and audio copies of The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir. The choir will also be credited on the audiobook.

The novel is due to be published in Spring 2017.