Dear Director,

Linn-Mar High School would like to extend a very warm and friendly welcome to Supernova 2026.  We hope that all is going well for you during the early stages of your show choir season.  We are excited to have you and your students participate in our invitational and hope that it provides an enjoyable experience that includes valuable feedback for your use in improving your performance.  We have had a wonderful response from those wishing to participate.

We are moving the event to the brand new 1200-seat Performance Hall this year to accommodate the competing teams. Groups will warm up in the Learning Center, perform in the New Performance Hall, and get a critique from one of our judges in the old Auditorium.

During our Daytime Competition there will be five Scoring Judges who will use an objective scoring system to determine placement in the Treble Prep, Mixed/Bass Prep, and Mixed Varsity classifications. There will be two clinic judges rotating to offer critiques to performing choirs in the day round immediately following their performances.  There will be a Band Judge during the Prep and Varsity competitions to select the Best Band Caption for those two divisions.  Our scoring judges will select two Best Soloists overall between the Treble and Mixed Prep divisions as well as two Best soloists in the Varsity division during the day round. Both clinic Judges will join the five Scoring Judges to evaluate the Saturday evening finals. All groups are eligible for finals.

There will be two awards ceremonies at Supernova:

A ceremony following the daytime competition will present awards as follows:

Treble Prep Division – Treble Division Grand Champion, 2nd place, 3rd Place

Mixed/Bass Prep Division – Mixed/Bass Prep Grand Champion through 5th place, plus captions for Best Band (Treble division included), Best Visuals, Best Vocals, and two Best Solo awards (Treble division included)

Varsity Division will recognize all choirs of the day, plus caption awards for two Best Soloists and Best Band. Our donation-based People’s Choice Award will also be given.

Saturday night Open Class Finals Competition Awards will present trophies for Grand Champion through 6th place, plus Best Visuals and Best Vocals in the evening ceremony.

There is a student hangout space in our Auxiliary Gym, this area proved to be very popular so we will again be offering this amenity to competing students. This hangout space will be available from 9:00 am to 5:00pm for all show choir participants including performers, band, and crew. Available activities include air hockey, corn hole, ping pong, and other games and puzzles. Please encourage your students to stop by and mingle with fellow event participants.

GOOD LUCK in the remaining weeks prior to the Supernova: The Linn-Mar Show Choir Invitational and in your preparation for your holiday activities.  We are looking forward to seeing you and your groups on January 17, 2026.   If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call.

Sincerely,