British Association of Barbershop Singers

The British Association of Barbershop Singers (BABS) is a British organisation of male barbershop singers. It was formed in 1974 and is affiliated with the Barbershop Harmony Society.
Every year the association runs two contests in parallel for barbershop choruses and quartets as part of the BABS Annual Convention. The British convention is the largest barbershop convention of its kind outside of North America. The chorus competition is currently held over one day, while the quartet competition is spread over the convention weekend (with a preliminary round to eliminate all but the top 16 quartets usually held about 6 months prior to the semi-finals).
Concurrent with the national quartet contest, BABS holds an International Quartet Qualifying Contest, which past BABS gold medal quartets may also enter, to determine qualification for the next year's BHS International Quartet contest. In conjunction with the preliminary quartet contest, BABS also holds Seniors Quartet and Youth Quartet contests; BHS is asked to permit the respective winners to compete in the subsequent corresponding international contest, subject to a qualifying score.
National contest winners (in the categories of chorus and quartet) by year are as follows: