63rd Annual BMI Student Composer Awards Competition Announced

Broadcast Music, Inc. President and CEO Michael O’Neill and BMI Foundation President and Student Composer Awards Director Deirdre Chadwick have announced the opening of the 63rd annual BMI Student Composer Awards competition. Co-sponsored by BMI and the BMI Foundation, the program will award $20,000 in prizes to young composers actively engaged in the study of classical music.

The Student Composer Awards were established in 1951 to recognize outstanding ability in music composition and to further the development of young talent. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich serves as the Awards Chair. Classical music luminaries such as William Bolcom, George Crumb, Mario Davidovsky, Philip Glass, John Harbison, Augusta Read Thomas, Aaron Jay Kernis, Donald Martino, Dominick Argento, Steven Mackey, Christopher Rouse, Joseph Schwantner, Michael Torke, and Charles Wuorinen received their earliest recognition through this program.

The competition is open to all composers studying classical music under the age of 28, who are citizens of the Western Hemisphere (North, South, and Central America, the Caribbean Island Nations, and the Hawaiian Islands). Applications must be submitted no later than February 6, 2015.

There are no limitations as to the 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, and all compositions are judged anonymously.

For the first time this year, applications to the Student Composer Awards may be completed online. Official rules are also available.