CPA and SPJA crack down again on conflicts of interest

Even though the UK has relatively few unified rules governing how solo piping competitions are run, the common regulation that teachers should not judge their pupils and pupils should not play for their teachers is the strictest conflict-of-interest policy in the world of piping and drumming.

The Competing Pipers Association and the Solo Piping Judges Association have issued a joint reminder to their respective members that any breaches of the policy will be dealt with severely.

Both organizations work in partnership with solo competition convenors and Highland games secretaries to adopt the CPA’s grading for their events and to hire only adjudicators from the SPJA’s list of members.

“Our code of conduct mirrors the principles of the Competing Pipers Association to ensure the judging of solo piping competitions is conducted with integrity and without bias,” the SPJA said. “The SPJA maintains a list of recognized adjudicators who have been selected through a fair and open process. It also provides regular professional development opportunities for judges, ensuring that knowledge and standards are maintained.”

While far from all solo piping competitions in the UK follow CPA guidelines or hire only SPJA judges, both organizations have made significant progress since the SPJA was started in 2014, especially with the major gatherings at Oban, Inverness, London, Inveraray, Blair Atholl and Blairgowrie.

“Ensuring that there is no perception of bias is paramount.” – Solo Piping Judges Association

“Foremost amongst the principles of the SPJA is the avoidance of judging pupils or relatives that may lead to a perception of bias or partiality. The Association recognizes that the invitation of judges for events is sometimes a complex matter, but ensuring that there is no perception of bias is paramount.”

The strong reminder comes recently after the Piobaireachd Society’s announcement that it has developed its own list of approved solo piping judges, almost all of whom are not members of the SPJA. SPJA Secretary Roddy Livingstone said there was no connection with the Piobaireachd Society’s development of its own list of judges.

“The CPA does not recognize any prizes awarded by teachers or relatives or any prizes awarded by non-accredited adjudicators.” – Competing Pipers’ Association

“The CPA does not recognize any prizes awarded by teachers or relatives or any prizes awarded by non-accredited adjudicators (whether from a single non-member judge or where such an individual is engaged to sit alongside accredited adjudicators),” the statement read.

“The SPJA asks members to confirm with competition organizers that other persons engaged to judge are accredited members of the Solo Piping Judges Association before accepting invitations to adjudicate. Whilst most UK competitions recognize the benefits of engaging only SPJA members who are bound by the above principles, there remain isolated incidents in which competitions are inviting non-accredited persons to judge. This not only risks future support for events which continue with this practice, but also damages the credibility of solo piping competitions more widely.”

In the last two years, the SPJA created a “Supplementary” list of judges comprising top-level solo pipers still competing. Those on the Supplementary list are available to judge only lower-grade events (e.g., C-Grade and Juniors) and never judge those competing at their CPA grade level.

The CPA and Piobaireachd Society have not yet answered pipes|drums’ questions regarding the Piobaireachd Society’s list of judges.

Even though Scotland invented solo piping competition, the UK is unique in the solo piping world in that it has no single sanctioning body to manage grading, competition formats, and judges.

pipes|drums published a recent Opinion piece discussing the rise of independent piping and pipe band events, developing their own rules and hiring unaccredited judges.

Disclosure: The editor of pipes|drums is a member of the SPJA.