Conquest 2025

Rules and Regulations

  1. There is a $100 registration fee for all participating bands due immediately.
  2. Georgia bands must also submit a refundable $500 performance bond in a separate check that must be received in order to complete your registration. The performance bond will be returned on the day of competition if the band performs.
  3. Both the registration fee and performance bond will be returned if the event is cancelled.
  4. The competition field will be the size and shape of a regulation, well-lit football field.
    • 5 and 10 yard lines, high school hash marks, and sidelines are clearly marked
    • A fence encloses the field with a regulation track outside the fence, and bleachers on either side
    • Movement of equipment and percussion ensemble instruments will be on a flat paved surface
    • All motorized vehicles must have a drip pan or spill prevention device
    • No Projectiles / Pyrotechnics are permitted as part of the show
    • Field power is available on either side of the field at the 50 yard line
    • The field is turf, drains very well, and has a moderate crown
  5. The Conquest is a Captions style contest with adjudicators providing professional assessments for Music Performance, Visual Performance, General Effect, Drum Major, and Visual Ensembles/Auxiliary Units.
  6. Bands will be classified according to the number of wind instrument players. Bands may choose to enter a higher classification, but not a lower one.

    Classifications:
          Class A                          1-40 wind players
          Class AA                       41-59 wind players
          Class AAA                    60-79 wind players
          Class AAAA                 80-100 wind players
          Class AAAAA              101+ wind players

  7. Bands will be scheduled at a 20-minute interval.
  8. Order of performance within each class is determined by pre-registration form completion. Entries with the earliest arrival date perform last in class.
  9. Scoring will be according to GMEA guidelines:
    Superior (85.0-100);
    Excellent (70.0-84.9);
    Average (55.0-69.9)
    Fair (0.0-54.9)
  10. In the event of inclement weather, the competition will move into the Allatoona High School gymnasium. Instead of numerical scores, participants will receive “Comments Only” from the adjudicators.
  11. Awards will be given for the following:
    For EACH Class:
    — 1st Place in Class
    — 2nd Place in Class
    — 3rd Place in Class
    — Best Music Performance
    — Best General Effect
    — Best Visual Performance
    — Best Percussion
    — Best Drum Major
    — Best Visual EnsembleOverall Best General Effect
    Overall best Music Performance
    Overall Best Visual Performance

    Silver Division Champion (Highest overall score in Classes A, AA, and AAA)
    Gold Division Champion (Highest overall score in Classes AAAA, and AAAAA)
    Overall Grand Champion (Highest overall score REGARDLESS of Class)

A few notes about the Stands and the Competition

  • Fire is NOT permitted at any time.
  • There will be a designated area for videotaping.
  • Bands will be seated in reserved areas designated based on the number of participating bands.
  • Later performing bands may be seated on the track for exhibition and awards.
  • Please have your students and parents patronize our concession stand.
  • Please be supportive of all bands coming to this competition.

We are pleased to announce our world class panel of judges for The Conquest 2025.

Chief Judge: Alfred Watkins
Co-Founder, Musical Director and Conductor of the Cobb Wind Symphony

Alfred L. Watkins is Co-Founder, Musical Director and Conductor of the Cobb Wind Symphony, an all-adult community band in Marietta, GA.  In 2013, he concluded his 37-year career as a high school band director, serving at Lassiter High School in Marietta, Georgia for 31 years and at Murphy High School for six.  Mr. Watkins is a 1976 graduate of Florida A & M University with additional study in Music Education and Conducting at Georgia State University.  Concert bands under Watkins’ direction have performed at the Midwest Band Clinic five times, six featured band performances at the Music for All National Concert Band Festival and four performances at the GMEA In-Service Conference.  The Lassiter Percussion Ensemble has performed twice at the Midwest Clinic and once at Percussive Arts Society International Convention.  The Lassiter Jazz Ensemble was twice selected as an Honorable Mention in the Essentially Ellington Jazz Band Competition (NYC) and the Lassiter Winter Color Guard was named the 1997 & 1998 Winter Guard International World Champions.

The Lassiter Marching Band was the 1998 and 2002 Bands of America (BOA) Grand National Champions and also won nine BOA Regional Championships.  Under Watkins’ leadership, the marching band won 115 of 125 marching band competitions.  They also participated in four Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parades, three times in the Macy*s Thanksgiving Day Parade (NYC), twice in the King Orange Bowl Parade (FL) and once in the Florida Citrus Bowl Parade.  During Watkins’ Lassiter tenure, all four (or five) Lassiter concert bands received consecutive Superior Ratings from 1993 until his retirement in 2013, and for the last 23 years, the top two bands earning consistent superior ratings in Grade VI. Watkins has been a judge for Bands of America, DCI, concert bands, jazz bands and has served as a keynote speaker, clinician and lecturer throughout the country.  He has conducted All-State Bands in 18 states and has conducted bands in 38 states.

Mr. Watkins has been selected as a member of the American Bandmasters Association, the Florida A & M University Gallery of Distinguished Alumni, the Georgia Chapter of the Phi Beta Mu Hall of Fame and the Bands of America Hall of Fame.  Watkins received the Edwin Franko Goldman Award from ASBDA, and in December 2017, he was a recipient with the Midwest Clinic Medal of Honor.  He has served as the Guest Conductor of the World Youth Wind Symphony at the Interlochen Arts Camp and has served as guest conductor of the United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own” on the West Lawn at the U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C.  In 2018, Mr. Watkins was selected into the Inaugural Class as a “Midwest Clinic Legend” and currently serves on the Midwest Clinic Educational Advisory Committee.  In 2018, he was the recipient of the Kappa Kappa Psi Honorary Band Fraternity’s prestigious Distinguished Service to Music Medal and has recently been selected as the 2021-2022 Phi Beta Mu International Band Director Fraternity International Bandmaster of the Year.  He has received 25 Certificates of Excellence from the National Band Association, the Sudler Order of Merit from the John Philip Sousa Foundation and the Band World Magazine Legion of Honor Award.  Mr. Watkins is Co-Founder, Musical Director and Conductor of the Cobb Wind Symphony (1999), an all-adult community band based in the Metro Atlanta area, which has earned the Sudler Silver Scroll Award.  CWS has performed three times at the Midwest Clinic, three times at the Southern Division Convention of the C.B.D.N.A./N.B.A., and four times at the GMEA In-Service Conference.  Mr. Watkins is one of a few directors in America to have received the Sudler Flag of Honor for outstanding concert bands, the Sudler Shield for outstanding marching band and Sudler Shield for outstanding community band. In 2009 and 2010, two doctoral dissertations were accepted highlighting his life and his work with the Lassiter High School Band Program.  Currently, Mr. Watkins is a Co-Founder and President of the Minority Band Director National Association, Inc., an organization charged to serve, promote, celebrate and mentor minority band directors throughout the country.  He is currently an Educational Clinician for Conn-Selmer Corporation and Perform America, Inc.  The $1.5 million Alfred L. Watkins Band Building at Lassiter High School bears his name.

 He and his wife for 37 years, Rita, live in Marietta, GA.  They have two adult sons:  Christopher, a trumpeter in the United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own” in Washington, D.C. and Jonathan, a businessman in Atlanta, GA. He has one grandson, Miles.

Judge: Dr. Cara Morantz
Assistant Director of Bands, The University of Alabama at Birmingham

Cara Morantz, Ed.D., is Assistant Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She joined the faculty in the fall of 2014. She is part of the instructional team for the Marching Blazers, the Wind Symphony and Symphony Band, and the Blazer Bands. In addition, Dr. Morantz teaches music classes including courses in music education and aural skills.

Prior to her arrival at UAB, Dr. Morantz spent nine years in the public schools of Cobb County, Georgia, where she taught at both the middle school and high school levels. From 2005-2007, she served as assistant director of bands at Lassiter High School. From 2007-2012 she served as assistant director of bands at Cooper Middle School and from 2012-2014 she served as assistant director of bands at Durham Middle School.

Dr. Morantz has continued to play trumpet in community groups at UAB, and while in Georgia, she enjoyed being a member of the Cobb Wind Symphony. Dr. Morantz has also served as guest conductor and clinician at several schools, and at honor band events in the states of Georgia and Alabama.

Dr. Morantz was educated at the University of Miami, where she graduated Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in music education. She completed her master’s degree at the University of Georgia in 2011 and continued on to complete her Doctorate of Education in 2016. Her teaching and research interests include instrumental music education, beginning brass pedagogy, and the effect of singing on instrumental performance.

 

Judge: Mike Back

Director of Bands and Fine Arts Department Chair (Retired), Walton High School

Mike Back has most recently served at Walton High School in Marietta, Georgia as the Director of Bands and Fine Arts Department Chair. Prior to his appointment as Director of Bands, Mr. Back served as the assistant director at Walton for thirteen years. Previously, Mike was the percussion coordinator and arranger for the Spirit of Atlanta Drum and Bugle Corps. As a native of Alexandria, Kentucky, Mike attended Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky where he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education in 1981.

Under Mr. Back’s leadership, the band program at Walton had 285 students performing in four concert bands, marching band, two jazz bands, full orchestra and winter guard. The band has received national recognition through performances at Bands of America Regional and Grand National competitions. The band has also marched in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and is a two-time participant in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California. In 2010, the John Philip Sousa Foundation presented the Walton Band with the prestigious Sudler Shield, an international award recognizing marching bands of world class excellence.

Mr. Back is a member of the National Band Association, Music Educators National Conference, Georgia Music Educators Association, the Percussive Arts Society, Phi Mu Alpha, Phi Beta Mu and Who’s Who Among Americas Teachers. He also served on the staff of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Marching Band that performed in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Mr. Back has served as a clinician, judge and consultant throughout the United States and is an educational artist for Innovative Percussion. He lives in Marietta, Georgia with his wife Andrea, and their two children, Katie and Connor.

 

 

Judge: Stephanie Grote

Band Director, Durham Middle School

Stephanie Grote is the lead band director at Durham Middle School in Acworth, Georgia.  Previously, she served as the Assistant Band Director at Allatoona High School in Acworth, Georgia as well as an Assistant Band Director in Austin, Texas from 2010-2018. Mrs. Grote taught at Canyon Ridge Middle School from 2010-2012, and at Vandegrift High School from 2012-2018. While at Vandegrift, Mrs. Grote was responsible for teaching the Symphonic Winds and Concert Band 2, as well as assisting with the award-winning Marching Band.

Mrs. Grote graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of North Texas in 2010, where she enjoyed serving as drum major of the Green Brigade Marching Band. Additionally, Mrs. Grote enjoyed performing on trumpet in the North Texas Wind Symphony under the direction of Eugene Migliaro Corporon.

An active participant in Drum Corps International, Mrs. Grote performed with the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps from Santa Clara, California between 2007-2009. She served as Drum Major during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. She was the first female head Drum Major in SCV’s 50+ year history. In 2009, she was the recipient of the Jim Jones Leadership Award, which is given annually to one world class drum major by the DCI Hall of Fame.

 

Please use the following link to pre-register for The Conquest 2025.
REGISTRATION

If there are any questions please do not hesitate to contact our team at
theconquest@allatoonabands.org

We welcome you to Allatoona High School as our honored guests

 

The Campus

Our spacious, state-of-the-art campus is ideal for many types of events, especially sports and outdoor performances.

 

The Stadium

   The 2,750 seat Buccaneer Stadium remains as pristine as the day it was constructed.  The home side includes a fifty-four foot press box as well as almost six hundred chair back seats for added comfort during the performances.

 

The Field

 The competition field will be the size and shape of a regulation football field with sidelines and high school hash marks clearly marked.   The field is turf with excellent drainage and a moderate crown. Field power is available at the home side 50 yard line.

 

The Bus Lot

 The bus parking lot is located opposite the stadium and is designed for ease of access, unloading, loading, and exit.

 

Front Ensemble Warm Up Area

The Front Ensemble Warm-up Area is directly between the Band Bus Parking Lot, the Equipment Parking Lot, and the Band Warm-up Areas.

 

Band Warm Up Area

 The spacious, yet secluded, Band Warm-up Areas allow for performance preparation while respecting the other contestants and active performers within the stadium.

 

Equipment Truck Lot

The Equipment Parking Lot is located between the Band Parking Lot and the Stadium and utilizes pull-through parking for ease of unloading, organizing, and assembly.

 

Prop Truck Lot

 The Prop Parking Lot is located adjacent to the stadium and allows for the assembly of props and equipment.   Entry to the field is quick and seamless over flat, level pavement.

 

Hospitality Suites

The Allatoona Band Boosters Association provides a hospitality suite for the directors, staff, and drivers.  Enjoy a quiet moment with your colleagues from other schools before or after your performance.