Athens State University will be welcoming old time music lovers of all ages to campus from October 6-8 for the 55th Annual Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers Convention, presented by Aetos Systems, Inc. Beginning in 2022, several changes will be implemented for competitions with over $47,000 in prize money awarded.

All competition categories will now have eight award places instead of five. With the exception of some fiddle categories, prize money for individual categories will be awarded to the top eight with $300 awarded for first place.

The prize money for the Bluegrass Band and Old Time Band categories will increase to $1,500 for first place, $1,250 for second and $1,000 for third.

Classic Old Time Fiddler and Senior Fiddler first place winners will receive $1,000, and the Tennessee Valley Fiddle Champion will receive $2,000.

Several competition categories have been discontinued including beginner musician, junior fiddler, intermediate fiddler and the fiddle-off.

Beginner banjo, beginner mandolin, beginner guitar and Tennessee Valley Fiddle Champion categories have been added. Instead of a Beginner Musician category, the new categories for children will now be Beginner Banjo (12 and younger), Beginner Mandolin (12 and under), Beginner Guitar (12 and under), and Beginner Fiddler (10 and younger).

There will no longer be a Fiddle-Off between the top contestants in the three main fiddle categories. Instead, the Junior Fiddler and Intermediate Fiddler categories have been removed, and a new open Fiddle Category has been added — Tennessee Valley Fiddle Champion. A fiddler may not enter more than one fiddle category. Anyone who wishes to compete for the Fiddle Championship must enter this category.

The Tennessee Valley Fiddle Champion category is open to ages 11 and older.

All individual categories will be designated Alabama State Champion, and the open fiddle category will be designated Tennessee Valley Fiddle Champion.