BANDS and musicians from the Okehampton area are being invited to enter the area's premier music competition.

Okehampton Battle of the Bands organisers have received the first few entries for the competition, and they are looking to encourage bands and acts from the town to take part.

Applications covering all musical styles are encouraged and there are only two main rules: no signed acts and no tribute bands.

Organisers have put a deposit scheme in place for entrants this year. Each entrant will pay £25, of which £20 is a returnable deposit and £5 an administration fee. Any acts who enter and are not selected to participate will receive a full refund of £25.

Entrants who are selected will receive their £20 deposit back upon arriving at their heat. This has been done to try and ensure acts turn up for their heats and do not pull out at the last minute.

The remaining £5 admin fee will cover the PayPal costs incurred in processing the payment, with any remaining money going into a pool to pay for advertising and promotion of the bands and competition.

The heats take place on Thursday, July 2, July 9 and July 16. One band from each heat will be selected to play the final on Saturday, August 1 along with a wild card entry.

The Party in the Park finale will be hosted by Professor Elemental, an award winning 'Steampunk musician' who has had regular appearances across the globe at events like Glastonbury Festival, San Diego Comic Con, Bestival and the Canadian Steam Expo.

The theme of the 2015 Party in the Park finale is 'Best of British', and in line with that the headliners will be 'Who's Next', one of the UK's top The Who tribute bands. This also coincides with The Who's 50th anniversary in 2015. Chagstock, Project Music and @physidigi have all donated prizes to support the event.

To find out more or to apply online visit http://www.okehamptonbattleofthebands.org.uk">www.okehamptonbattleofthebands.org.uk and follow the competition on Facebook and Twitter.