The World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest and Festival is an annual event that takes place over Memorial Day Weekend in Oxford, MS every year.

In 1987, due to the drop in interest because of the varying weather conditions, the contest was moved to the Holiday Inn in Decatur, IL.

These are rules that have been created over fifty years, and they are very specific in governing the performance and judging of each division.

The Preliminary Rounds occurs on Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend and continues until all contestants are heard.

This is because the ten best-scoring contestants at the end of the Preliminary Rounds move on to the Semi-Finals on Sunday Morning.

Each contestant performs one song, and the winner is decided and crowned by the judges shortly after all sections are heard.

As of 2024, the Junior Division takes place during the contest's Preliminary Rounds, on Saturday Morning of Memorial Day Weekend and each Junior Division contestant performs two sections to meet the age requirement (the songs must be written before 1939).

The senior division occurs in the Preliminary Rounds of the contest, which takes place on Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend, and after this round, the three highest scoring contestants move on the to the Seniors' Finals on Sunday Morning.

The table below shows all of the winners of the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest from 2018, when it was deemed more suitable for senior to have their own division, to 2024.

Below is a table of all of the winners of the Duet Contest from when it was formed in 2016, to when it was dropped in 2019 to make way for the new Senior Division.