The competition will be held in Pembroke Castle

Part of the 10-day annual Pembroke Festival, the contest will be held at the town's castle on 6 September.

There are hundreds of pounds in cash prizes on offer.

But organiser David Hughes said, while there had been a lot of enquiries, he wanted more people to actually enter the event.

He got the idea for the competition when he found the annual Pembroke Festival Fiddle Competition in Ontario, Canada, attracted over 25,000 music lovers and fiddle players.

There has been a lot of interest but very few people have sent in the entries Organiser David Hughes

Mr Hughes said fiddlers do not have to play just Welsh music but must include a set of Welsh tunes in their performance without accompaniment.

He said the emphasis would be on performance and not perfect technique.

"The proficient non-professional fiddler will be able to compete if they have got the confidence or presence," he said.

"There has been a lot of interest but very few people have sent in the entries.

"There are four entries in the open class and four in the junior. We've got enough but more are always wanted.

"It should be very good and I'm confident it will be.

"We are holding workshops on the Sunday so that entrants might get some tips about what the judges are looking for."

Renowned Welsh fiddle player Sian Phillips will be one of those on the judging panel.

She said: "This is a fantastic little competition and the first of its kind in Wales in the past 60 years.

"There have been piping competitions, singing, harp playing but never fiddling.

"David Hughes has been fantastic in rounding up such substantial prizes, greater than those for the folk group competitions of the National Eisteddfod.