Awards

From Wind Repertory Project

This article lists established band composition awards as well as other composition prizes awarded to works for winds. You can also find works for winds by award-winning composers at this website.


American Bandmasters Association Sousa/Ostwald Prize

The Ostwald Prize is one of the major wind band composition prizes. It is sponsored by the ABA (American Bandmasters Association). It was previously known as the Ostwald Prize (named after uniform manufacturers Ernest and Adolph Ostwald) before being renamed the ABA Sousa/Ostwald Prize in 2011.

Starting in 1991, the format of the ABA/Ostwald Prize changed. The winner of the prize would be granted a commission for a second work to be provided the following year.

After 1998, the commission component of the ABA/Ostwald Prize was abandoned.

Starting in 2005, the ABA/Ostwald Prize became a biennial award.

In 2011, the award was renamed the Sousa/Ostwald Prize, and became an annual award.


ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick Fennell Prize

The award is named after Frederick Fennell, noted conductor and founder of the Eastman Wind Ensemble. It is jointly sponsored by ASCAP and the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), and seeks to recognize music written by young composers (18-30) for concert band.



Claude T. Smith Memorial Award

Named after the composer following his death in 1987, the Claude T. Smith Memorial Award is administered by Lambda Chapter of Phi Beta Mu fraternity at Central Missouri State University, and is presented every three years.



National Band Association/Merrill Jones Memorial Composition Contest

This award was established in 1991 to help promote works for young bands. It is held every other year, and the composer must be under 40 years of age and produce a work for concert band in the Grade 3-4 category. It is sponsored by the National Band Association (NBA), and dedicated to the memory of Merrill Jones, co-owner of Wingert-Jones Music Company.


National Band Association/William D. Revelli Award

The Revelli Award is sponsored by the National Band Association (NBA) and is named after William Revelli, who served as director of bands at the University of Michigan for 36 years. The mission of the award is to further the cause of quality literature for bands in America.


National Band Association/Alfred Music Young Band Composition Contest


Sudler Prize for Composition


Walter Beeler Memorial Commission Series/Prize

The Beeler Memorial Prize began as a Memorial Commission Series, established in 1975. Its original purpose was to encourage the composition and performance of the highest quality wind band literature. The award is administered by the Ithaca College School of Music, where Beeler taught.

Starting in 1987, the commission series shifted to a biennial composition prize.


Barbara Buehlman Composition Competition

The Barbara Buehlman (1936-1997) competition honors one of the first woman band directors to achieve national recognition. The award was created by the Midwest Clinic to encourage and support composers 34 years of age or younger, and to recognize outstanding competitions for high school and middle school, on alternate years.


Barlow International Competition/Endowment Commission

The Barlow Endowment supports the Barlow Prize and other commissioning programs that have covered (but are not limited to) a number of band compositions. For the Barlow Prize, the Endowment selects a genre each year. Winners are selected and commissioned to compose new works in the following years.


The Pulitzer Prize for Music

The Pulitzer Prize is not a band composition award, but it is a major award for musical composition, and the WRP feels it is worthy enough to be included here. No work specifically composed for winds has yet won the Pulitzer Prize.


The Grawemeyer Award

'Like the Pulitzer, the Grawemeyer is not specifically a band composition award, but is rather a major music composition award administered by the University of Louisville and the Grawemeyer Foundation. No work specifically composed for winds has yet won the Grawemeyer Award.'

Prized Composers

The Prized Composers site, developed by the University of Washington, highlights the wind works of distinguished, prize-winning composers.

International Composition Competition Harelbeke

Composition Competition Harelbeke
'The aim of this competition is to encourage talented composers to integrate the achievements of contemporary music and current composition techniques into wind orchestra compositions.'

Coup de Vents International Composition Competition

Concours International de Composition "Coups de Vents"
'Coups de Vents, develops research, creation and training projects for wind music.'


Lliria International Composition Competition