The fact that St. C. competed in their own festival is strange and possibly a bit slanted in their favor. However, that may not be completely different from an athletic event where the home team hires the refs. What I found more disturbing was that the top two groups performed without masks. That created a distinct disadvantage for those groups whose schools required them to perform with masks. Tone, diction, facial expression would all be somewhat compromised. During this time, all competing groups should be required to perform with masks. My opinion.
Surely not! I’ve been director since 1978 and judge until 2017... have never seen the host compete in any of those times in OH, WV, IN, VA or NC where I have competed and judged! That would be extremely rude!! I am sure St Clairsville who has long standing of a top notch choir would not be competing! I would say they are performing an exhibition show but in middle of the groups!
Indeed they did. When the St. C directors sent in the schedule they did confirm they were competing. Been busy, so my bad on not circling back to answer these questions ahead of time. It is true that it's notably peculiar (and generally taboo) to compete when you're the host school, but this is an odd year and I imagine it was to give the kids more opportunities. Although I'm not sure we've seen this at any other contests yet this year. But hey, to each their own. One would imagine that the directors of the participating schools all talked this out, agreed to it, and there was transparency from the start.
While that piece is certainly a bit odd, I also found the awards ceremony unfulfilling as they only recognized the top 2 placements when there were just 5 choirs total. It seems like if we were wanting to acknowledge all the choirs that... we'd start with placements since this was a competition? I don't know what their rationale was. At any rate, we're missing some of the names for the soloists and judge's choice awards, so if folks want to fill in the gaps along with the other choir placements please do so. Drop a comment or shoot me a message. We want to do our best to give all the appropriate folks the credit they deserve.
It’s definitely not unheard of to have a group compete at an event that they’re hosting. The easiest example I can think of is West Virginia States, which is often hosted at Hurricane High School whose show choir also happens to compete at states every year. That being said, it is still really strange to see St. C hosting their own competition, competing at it, and winning.
I think Mitchell did the same thing for a couple years as well with South Dakota states when they hosted. The more eyebrow-raising part (not saying good or bad, just uncommon) is St. C organizing the event and competing. If memory serves me right, a couple of the Oklahoma comps like Duncan and/or Edmond Santa Fe do this and Duncan won their division a couple years ago. Obviously, St. C had already beat Kenton earlier in the season so it's not like this is totally out of the blue. I wish they had done at the very least a podium because I think Buckeye Valley would've landed in that three spot.
Even in West Virginia, technically the WVMEA is hosting the state comp. Hosting facility gets passed around every couple years from school to school. I know 2019 was hosted at Morgantown High School,. The idea of competing as a host just seems bizarre.
If you're hosting a community based (states, regions) so it has a location that is one thing. You still have to pay registration fees and follow rules like staying out of judges room, etc. I admit I have no idea what the details are for this comp, but I competed at States. Hurricane was often the only school willing to host location, until it shifted to Morgantown, which didn't have a show choir involved.
Our competition has been moved to March 6, 2021. It will take place AT ST. CLAIRSVILLE HIGH SCHOOL, not Buckeye Local.
We are a small school competition. We are accepting schools with a student population under 900. We can accept up to 8 groups.
I don't know what their rationale was. At any rate, we're missing some of the names for the soloists and judge's choice awards, so if folks want to fill in the gaps along with the other choir placements please do so. Drop a comment or shoot me a message. We want to do our best to give all the appropriate folks the credit they deserve. 
