The contest, open to composers of any nationalities or age (who have not won first prize in any of the previous editions), is dedicated to the composer Henry Purcell's 360th burth annuversary (1659-1695).

The required compositionmust have a duration of 10 minutes max (the minimum duration is free) and it shall contain at least one clearly intelligible citation of the melody Fairest Isle, all isles excelling taken from the Fifth Act of Henrly Purchell's King Arthur opera.

Its score can be downloaded here.