SATURDAY, October 10, 2026

Ticket and Shirt pre-sales are available!

Click Here to purchase your KOC T-shirt or tickets.

BASICS

The Prospect High School Band Boosters will host the 30th Annual Knight of Champions Marching Band Festival on Saturday, October 10, 2026 at Prospect High School.  The competition will begin in the afternoon and run through to the evening.  

More than a dozen bands will be competing from across the Chicagoland area, such as Wheeling High School, Glenbrook North High School, Morris Community High School, Grant Community High School, Argo Community High School, Huntley High School, Batavia High School, Glenbrook South High School, Elk Grove High School, Waukegan High School, Grayslake Central High School, Carl Sandberg High School, Warren Township High School, Lake Park High School, Oswego East High School, Main West High School, Buffalo Grove High School, Plainfield North High School, Mundelein High School.

We will award 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place trophies for the Class A, Class AA and Class AAA bands that compete along with Outstanding General Effect, Outstanding Music, Outstanding Visual, Outstanding Percussion, and Outstanding Auxiliary caption awards for each class.  The Dave Morrison Grand Champion Traveling Trophy will be awarded to the highest scoring band of the day.

Classifications will be determined at a later date.

Bands may also choose to perform in exhibition for adjudication comments only.  A smaller band may elect to compete in a larger class.

Band fan guide

See our BAND FAN GUIDE for details on tickets, concessions, parking, merchandise and more! The BAND FAN GUIDE can be found here once available.

Registration

registration for 2027 KOC will open in early 2027

PAYMENT

Registration fee is $200.  The timestamp on the registration form will help us determine performance order.  

Registration payments can be made by check or credit card, please indicate your preference when you register.  Credit card payments can be processed in the JotForm registration page.  Please email us if you require an invoice.  When paying by check, please make your check payable to the Prospect Band Boosters and mailed to:

Prospect Band Booster Assoc.

c/o KOC

P.O. Box 63

Mt. Prospect, IL 60056

Schedule

2026 Knight of Champions Schedule

TBD

JUDGES

Music Effect: Levi Chavis

Music Effect: Ryan Adamsons

Visual Effect: Pete Weber

Music Individual: John Timmins

Music Ensemble: Dan Farris

Visual Individual: Paul Wiercioch

Visual Ensemble: Scott Seal

Percussion: Raychel Taylor

Color Guard: Alan Buzalski

Timing and Penalties: Wayne Gordon

Judging will be BOA style. Ties are determined first by the highest raw score (score minus penalties), then highest General Effect total, then by highest Music total score.

TURF

Prospect High School has an artificial turf field which will be used for this competition.  Due to improved field drainage, field performance may continue in light to moderate rain.

GENERAL ADMISSION PRICES (NON-BAND)

Admission tickets and pricing are available here!

Seating

Seating in the East - home stands is on a first come, first serve basis. Wristbands will be checked upon entering the East stands.

Band members and chaperones are to be seated in the West - visitor stands. Hand stamps will provide entry to the West stands.

Both East-home and West-visitor bleachers are wheelchair accessible.

Food Concessions

Concessions will be open throughout the evening. We will have pizza, hotdogs, muffins, chips and Dairy Queen Blizzards.

Merchandise/Concession Tables

Programs, event t-shirts, socks, and patches. Merchandise will be located between the ticket gates and the east bleachers. There will be volunteers between performances selling split-the-pot raffle tickets. If any visitor has questions or needs directions, please have them ask any volunteers wearing the Prospect High School Wear.

First Aid/Lost & Found

Nurses will be on site during the festival. The First Aid station is at the Information table just inside Door 30. The information table will also serve as Lost & Found.

Parking

Most of the school’s available parking will be used for visiting schools’ buses and equipment trucks. Please observe the parking instructions that will be given to you upon arrival.  We recommend that you carpool if possible.  There is parking within a short walk of the school.  Please plan you arrival time accordingly.

Inclement Weather Contingency

The following contingency plan will be implemented should inclement weather threaten the Festival:

• If inclement weather strikes, or is imminent, the contest will be delayed to determine the possibility of a restart.

• In the event of extremely heavy rain or continuous lightning, the contest will be moved inside to the high school field house. The competing bands will be judged on Music and Music General Effect as they stand and play their show. The field house floor is large enough to accommodate the musicians as well as stationary color guard.

• A judges meeting will be held to determine what captions will be awarded and the judging procedure to be used.

• Reduced-price admissions will be charged. Concessions will be in the field house foyer.

• Band guides will relay the information to their band as it becomes available.

• Warm-up will occur 45 minutes before your performance in the field house. This is a 30 minute warm-up followed by 15 minutes to stage and move to the performance area. Your band guide will direct you.

Questions

Any questions about the competition should be directed to:

2025 Co-Coordinators
Knight of Champions
PHSKOC@gmail.com

Previous Results

Please use the ‘‘Select a year” options to change years.

http://ilmarching.com/festivals_detail.php?FestivalID=1101&archive=0