The Smithfield Lions Club recently announced its annual James A. Bland Memorial Music Scholarship Contest to be held at 1 p.m. Feb. 12 at Hope Presbyterian Church, 13490 Benns Church Blvd, Smithfield.

This is the first rung of an escalating series of music contests (local, regional, district and state) sponsored by the Lions Clubs of Virginia culminating in scholarships for music study. This preliminary contest is open to youth attending elementary, middle, junior or senior high school (or equivalent home-schooled level) that are residents of Virginia. Contestants are not required to be from Smithfield, but are limited to participating in only one local competition.

Participants may only enter one local contest. For those advancing as far as the state finals, the Lions award scholarships of $2,500 for first place, $2,000 for second place, and $1,500 for third place, and cash awards of $1,000 for fourth, fifth and six places to vocal and instrumental finalists.

The state finals are held in conjunction with the Virginia Lions State Convention. Interested instrumentalists and vocalists may obtain contest rules and applications from Lion Katie Lemon (lemon2@hotmail.com). Also, complete, scan and send applications to: lemon2@hotmail.com. The deadline for submitting completed applications is Feb. 10.