Makers of musical notation software Sibelius has announced a competition for young composers, Sibelius Student Composer of the Year 2008.

There are two age groups, 10-16 and 17-18, and three categories: Film. Classical/Contemporary and Jazz. Prizes include a public performance of the piece as well as Sibelius software and computer hardware. There are eight one minute film clips provided on the Sibelius website for that category.

The full version of Sibelius is very expensive but it has also released a browser plugin called Scorch that displays and plays musical notation in a browser. Unsurprisingly Sibelius host a website called SibeliusMusic that has a large collection of music, both wholly original and arrangements of classic tunes.

Entries must be in before October 31st.