US National Scottish Harp Championship ™

The Ohio Scottish Games is proudly hosting the US National Scottish Harp Championship ™ 2023, sponsored by the Clan Currie Society.

Competitors must be current members of the Scottish Harp Society of America to compete ($20 for the year). Questions about memberships should be directed to [email protected]. You may sign up in person at the Games or pay dues on paypal.

We do encourage all competitors to pre-register as the competitor fee includes Saturday Highland Games gate access. All Harp events will take place in Building 29 on June 24, 2023 beginning at 8:30 AM. Competitors must register online by June 7, 2023. Registering between June 8-17 will incur a $20 late fee. No registrations will be taken after June 17, and we are no longer taking registrations the day of the competition. The competitor fee includes Saturday Highland Games gate access.

Harp workshops:

  • Led by Eileen Gannon, Friday June 23 in building 27a, 6 PM
  • Led by Corrina Hewat and Haley Hewitt, Saturday June 24 in building 30, approx. 3 PM or after competition.

Questions? Contact Tiffany Schaefer at [email protected].

Contest Registration Handbook & Competition Rules

2023 Harp Judges


Haley Hewitt

Haley Hewitt is a New England-based harp player, educator, and multi-media artist. Steeped in music from North America, Scotland and Ireland, her music has a distinctly traditional flavor. With a Bachelor’s Degree from the Hartt School of Music in pedal harp performance and a Master’s Degree from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Scottish Traditional Music, she founded Celtic Harp departments at Quinnipiac University and the Neighborhood Music School. Passionate about new music, she has also worked closely with composers including Michael O’Sullivan, Ken Steen, Robert Carl, and Dan Lis, to produce new literature for the harp. Her harp playing has taken her to Carnegie Hall, Benaroya Hall, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, and won her the New England Open Scottish Harp Competition in 2006 and the US National Scottish Harp Championship in 2013.

Corrina Hewat

Corrina Hewat was brought up in the Black Isle in the Scottish Highlands. Growing up surrounded by music and song, art and stories in an expansive landscape helped to shape her musical narrative. She is a harper, singer and composer amongst other things and has been Principal Scottish Harp Tutor at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland since 2012. She achieved her Honours Music Degree and went on to win Tutor of the Year in 2013 at STMA.

She has worked with musicians such as Karine Polwart, Kathryn Tickell, Bobby McFerrin, Eric Bibb, Peggy Seeger. She has recorded around 50 albums, 13 under her own or band name and composed many large scale commissions for ensemble. Her most recent work is MD/co-producer of the Edinburgh Fringe sell-out show run of Moon Dragon which is a new pre-school children's interactive stage show, with harp music and song, characterful puppets, and a wonderfully colourful story journey.

She is also one of the musicians compiling the 100 Women Composers in Trad tunebook to be released on Faber in the near future. She also directs the Scots Folk 60-strong choir Sangstream. She has been trying to record a new album of music and song although it seems her needs are the last on her list, as is usual with musicians, and it hasn't yet been achieved. Her other focus is The Song of the Oak and the Ivy, a 10-harp, 6 player piece, commissioned jointly by the EIHF and The Clarsach Society, which is to be recorded for posterity in 2022.

Travel Scholarship


The Scottish Harp Society of America sponsors a travel scholarship to Scotland. This is open by application to any Journeyman or Master competitor.

Your completed application package will include this form, your cover letter, and your completed essay. They may be mailed or emailed and must be received four weeks before the competition. If mailing, please print this form, the essay and the cover letter to Scottish Harp Society of America, PO Box 151791, Alexandria VA, 22315. If emailing, please send your files to [email protected].

Application Form Essay Requirements