The society behind the long-running community competition has decided to take the annual event online, rather than cancel it altogether.

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The online eisteddfod, and a new website for the society, will be launched this week after ex-Gunnedah musician and eisteddfod sponsor Lucy Ravenwood (nee Amos) came up with the idea.

"It is believed that the online Gunnedah Eisteddfod is the first eisteddfod of its kind in Australia," long-time society member Marg Amos said.

"We are very excited about this new and progressive concept."

The Association of Eisteddfod Societies of Australia president, Tony Kemper, praised the society for "the foresight to venture outside the box to give young people and competitors the opportunity to perform in their chosen discipline in the performing arts".

Mrs Amos, Mrs Ravenwood and Katrina King will be convenors for the inaugural online competition, backed by the society's committee.

Residents can submit videos of their performances, which will be judged by adjudicators. A previous adjudicator, Paul Jarman, will judge the vocal and instrumental sections. An adjudicator for the brass sections is yet to be confirmed.

Mrs Amos said the competition would give musicians an incentive to keep focused and work towards short-term milestone goals - both for fun, and for those doing AMEB exams later this year.

"Given that most music eisteddfods aren't going ahead in 2020, and there is a significant gap in the market, we are warmly inviting and encouraging musicians from Gunnedah as well as outside of our region to enter," she said.

"We consider that this is a great opportunity to raise the profile of our town and our eisteddfod for future years, especially as we seek to recover from the challenges of ongoing drought."

Most sections will be aimed at solo performances but there will also be room for seniors, pre-schoolers, performers with special needs, sibling duets and family/household entertainment.

Society president Meryl Hennessy said she was "100 per cent in favour of it".

"I think it's a wonderful initiative," she said.

"All credit to Lucy Ravenwood who came up with the idea to keep kids interested and keep kids practising music and vocals, and there are opportunities for siblings to perform. I'm excited and really looking forward to how it will evolve."

Mrs Hennessy said the society was in need of a website and may be able to use the online element for future eisteddfods if there was a need.

"This could lead into always doing something [online] further down the track ... a lot of aspects could be used later on, not just in the pandemic, so I'm pretty excited, really," she said.