Vivian Ellis is best known for his musicals Bless The Bride and Mr Cinders which have a timeless quality ensuring record-breaking hits for performers as diverse as Billy Hale in 1929 and Sting in 1989, both with the same song "Spread A Little Happiness". He wrote songs for John Mills, Flanagan and Allen, Rodgers and Hart, and was still writing until shortly before his death in 1996.

The competition provides an opportunity for composers, lyricists and bookwriters/librettists working in Britain to benefit from the guidance and encouragement of some of this country's most distinguished personalities and established practitioners in the world of musical theatre.