53rd Annual BMI Student Composer Awards Competition Opens

The 53rd annual BMI Student Composer Awards competition will award $20,000 to young composers, BMI President and CEO Del Bryant announced today. The postmark deadline for entering the 2005 competition, co-sponsored by BMI and the BMI Foundation, is Friday, February 11, 2005.  The BMI Student Composer Awards were established in 1951 to encourage young composers in the creation of serious music and, through cash prizes, to aid in continuing their musical education. There are no limitations as to instrumentation, style or length of work submitted. The prizes, which range from $500 to $5,000, are awarded at the discretion of the final judging panel. Milton Babbitt is the awards chairman.  Eleven former winners of these prestigious awards have gone on to win the coveted Pulitzer Prize in Music, including Stephen Albert, Dominick Argento, William Bolcom, George Crumb, Mario Davidovsky, John Harbison, Aaron Jay Kernis, Donald Martino, Christopher Rouse, Joseph Schwantner and Charles Wuorinen.  The 2005 competition is open to students under the age of 26 by December 31, 2004 who are citizens of the Western Hemisphere, which includes North, South and Central America, the Caribbean Island Nations and the Hawaiian Islands. Compositions are judged completely under pseudonyms.  Click here for official rules and an entry form.