Milton Babbitt, an influential composer, professor, author and Chair Emeritus of the BMI Student Composer Awards, died of natural causes on January 29 in Princeton, N.J. He was 94.

The winners of the BMI Foundation’s 13th Annual John Lennon Scholarships, a program that recognizes the best and brightest young songwriters between the ages of 15 and 24, were announced by Samantha Cox, Director of the competition.

Influential BMI composer Jerry Bock has died. He was 81 years old.

The BMI Jazz Composers Workshop, a noted creative forum for musical exploration and development, highlighted the best new jazz compositions created during the last year at its 22nd Anniversary Summer Showcase Concert on July 1 at Christ and St. Stephens’s Church. The concert featured the BMI/New York Jazz Orchestra, a 17-piece modern repertory ensemble made up of leading New York musicians.

Eleven young classical composers, ages 13 to 26, have been named winners in the 58th Annual BMI Student Composer Awards. Awards Chair Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, BMI President and CEO Del Bryant and BMI Foundation President Ralph N. Jackson announced the decisions of the jury and presented the awards at a reception held May 14 at the Jumeirah Essex House Hotel in New York City.

The 11th Annual BMI Foundation Jerry Harrington Awards for Creative Excellence were presented during a ceremony held on May 10 at the BMI New York offices.

The BMI Foundation recently tapped composer Andy Roninson as the recipient of the 2010 Robert Sherman Scholarship. Awarded each year to an auspicious student composer currently studying musical theatre, the $1,000 scholarship was established in 2006 by Robert Sherman.

BMI Foundation President Ralph N. Jackson has announced that flutist Claire Chase is the recipient of the Carlos Surinach Prize, given to an emerging artist in recognition of “outstanding commitment to American music,” and composer Evan Johnson is the winner of the Carlos Surinach Commission.

Porfirio Piña, Director of the BMI Foundation’s peermusic Latin Scholarship, has announced that Samuel Genao is the winner of the seventh annual peermusic Latin Scholarship, a competition for original Latin songs and instrumental compositions.

Ralph N. Jackson, President of the BMI Foundation, Inc., has announced that Nick DePinna, a graduate music student at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, is the first recipient of the BMI Foundation’s William Goldstein Scholarship.

The BMI Foundation has named Gerrit Wunder, Elizabeth Luttinger and Peter Bateman the winners of the 21st annual Pete Carpenter Fellowship for aspiring film composers under the age of 35.

The BMI Foundation, Inc. has announced the opening of the 7th Annual peermusic Latin Scholarship, a competition for young songwriters and composers.