Participate in the Swiss National anthem competition in 2014

Switzerland considers its National anthem too old-fashioned, so a new one will be chosen through a competition.

The priority is to have a new text, but contestants will also be free to compose a new tune, says project leader Lukas Niederberger from Swiss Society for Public Utility (SGG). The SGG, founded in 1810, seeks to promote Swiss values and has previously launched social and cultural initiatives.

The current text dates back to 1841 and includes references to God, prayer, mountains and sunshine.
The new text is to include values enshrined in the Swiss constitution, such as democracy and solidarity.

Swiss National Anthem

The competition will run from January to the end of June 2014, with the top prize of CHF 10,000.- to be awarded in 2015.

The runners-up will get CHF 5,000.-, CHF 3,000.- and CHF 1,000.-. The competition is open to Swiss nationals and foreigners living in Switzerland.

The winning anthem will be presented to the Federal Council for approval.



The judging panel has just been selected. It has 25 members from various areas of national life, including football, the Olympics, music, literature and yodelling.
There are four jury presidents - Christine Beerli, Patrizia Pesenti, Pierre Kohler and Oscar Knapp - representing respectively the four official languages spoken in the federation: German, Italian, French and Romansch.

The current anthem is called the Swiss Psalm. In 1981 it replaced "Rufst du mein Vaterland" (When you call, My Fatherland), which was set to the same tune as the British national anthem - God Save The Queen.

"Many people are conservative and the anthem is emotional, but if a composer creates a super song, then we can change the tune too. But that's a bit difficult for conservative people, so we say the contestants don't have to change the music," Mr.Niederberger said.

So? What are you waiting for? You could go down in history as Switzerland's National Hymn composer! Why not give it a try?