Past Winners

2023 Winners

Category A (Chamber Ensemble) -

Winner:
Quintet for clarinet, strings, and piano, by Max Grafe (Wallkill, New York)

Runners-up:
Grin, by Robin Haigh (London, United Kingdom)
Winter Sister, by Timothy Peterson (Los Angeles, California)

Honorable Mentions:
Nonsense Passacaglia, by Theo Chandler (Houston, Texas)
Piano Quartet No. 2, by Douglas Boyce (Blowing Rock, North Carolina)
roses, by Baldwin Giang (Malvern, Pennsylvania)
Taxonomies of Pulse, by Benjamin Krause (Holland, Michigan)

Judges:
Benet Casablancas (Liceu Conservatory, Barcelona)
Melinda Wagner (The Juilliard School)
Yehudi Wyner (Brandeis University, emeritus)

Category B (Wind Ensemble) -

Winner:
Hydrosphere, by Sam Wu (Melbourne, Australia)

Runner-up:
Wo We Are, by Cody Hutcheson (Eastland, Texas)

Honorable Mention:
Breathe, Come Together, Embrace, by Angelique Poteat (Seattle, Washington)

Category C (Chorus) -

Winner:
Absalom, by Adrian Wong (Ho Man Tin, Hong Kong)

Runner-up:
Two Falling Stars, by Paul Rudoi (West Saint Paul, Minnesota)

Honorable Mention:
To Music, by Mark Kilstofte (Greenville, South Carolina)

2022 Winners

Category A (Chamber Ensemble) -

Winner:
As the light begins to drift, by Paul Novak (Chicago, IL)

Runners-up:
Cantus, by Alex Stephenson (San Diego, CA)
A string quartet is like a flock of birds, by Paul Novak (Chicago, IL)

Honorable Mentions:
Between the Lines, by Scott Lee (Gainesville, FL)
Harp Concerto, by Sami Seif (Cleveland, OH)
Iridescence, by Zach Gulaboff Davis (Salem, OR)

Judges:
Raymond Deane (Aosdána, Irish academy of artists)
John Harbison (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Laura Schwendinger (University of Wisconsin at Madison)

Category B (Wind Ensemble) -

Winner: Chrysanthemum, by Christopher Dietz (Perrysburg, OH)

Runner-up:
Barnstorming Season, by Matthew Browne (New York, NY)

Category C (Chorus) -

Winner:
Infinite Horizon, by Nicholas Ryan Kelly (Penticton, BC, Canada)

Runner-up:
In the Clouds, by Xingzimin Pan (Guangzhou, China)

Honorable Mention:
To the River, by Bryan Grosbach (Westminster, CO)

2021 Winners

Category A (Chamber Ensemble) -

Winner:
and more and more and more and this, by Thomas Kotcheff (Los Angeles, CA)

Runners-up:
Duhkha, by Dan Langa (Brooklyn, NY)
Taxonomies of Pulse, by Benjamin Krause (Holland, MI)

Honorable Mentions:
Aeropittura, by Daniel Godsil (Sacramento, CA)
Children's Games, by Vera Ivanova (Orange, CA)
Compressor, by Nick Bentz (Charleston, SC)

Judges:
Anthony Cheung (Brown University)
Arlene Sierra (Cardiff University)
Anna Weesner (University of Pennsylvania)

Category B (String Orchestra) -

Winner: Sinfonietta No. 2 (Polonia) - hommage à Wojciech Kilar, by Maciej Bałenkowski (Krakow, Poland)

Runners-up:
The Light that Breaks Through, by Bobby Ge (Atlanta, GA)
Elegie, by Michael Seltenreich (New York, NY)

2020 Winners

Category A (Chamber Ensemble) -

Winner:
Vinyl, by Charles Peck (Philadelphia, PA)

Runners-Up:
as the light begins to drift, by Paul Novak (Reno, NV)
Ten Variations, by Gilad Cohen (Ridgewood, NJ)

Honorable Mentions:

Jouhet, by Ilari Kaila (Sai Kung, Hong Kong)
Anachronismus, by Carlos Bandera (Baltimore, MD)

Judges:
Moritz Eggert (Hochschule für Musik und Theater München)
David Ludwig (Curtis Institute of Music)
Shulamit Ran (University of Chicago, Professor Emerita)

Category B (Wind Ensemble) -

Winner:

Resilience, by Klaas Coulembier (Mechelen, Belgium)

Runner-Up:

Bounce, by Bobby Ge (Atlanta, GA)

Category C (Chorus) -

Winner:

O Magnum Mysterium, by Ed Frazier Davis (Kansas City, MO)

Honorable Mentions:

Présence, by Charles van Hemelryck (Lyon, France)
Siempre lloran las madres en las guerras, by Timothy Brown (Denver, CO)

2019 Winners

Category A (Chamber Ensemble) -

Winner:

through thoughts of a different kind , by Igor Santos (Chicago, IL)

Runners-Up:

Two Taylor Songs, by Theo Chandler (Hillsborough, NC)

Ping, by Peter Van Zandt Lane (Athens, GA)

Honorable Mentions:

Evening Rainbow, by Charles Halka (Bellingham, WA)

For all love lost and spirit gained, by Joshua Jandreau (Boston, MA)

Sunburst, by Charles Peck (Philadelphia, PA)

Judges:

Aaron Jay Kernis (Yale School of Music)

Zygmunt Krauze (Academy of Music in Łódź)

Stephen Andrew Taylor (University of Illinois)

Category B (Full Orchestra) -

Winner:

Rift, by Luke Flynn (Santa Monica, CA)

Runner-Up:

Jobs and Gates at Dawn (and other uchronias), by Eduardo Soutullo Garcia (Vigo, Spain)

Honorable Mentions:

LINES: Desert Whispers, by Juan Andrés Vergara Avilez (Mexico City, Mexico)

The Arborist, the Alchemist, by Chelsea Komschlies (Calgary, Alberta)

Category C (Chorus) -

Winner:

Ring Out, Wild Bells, by Jessica Meyer (Bronx, NY)

Runner-Up:

Like a Darling, by Steven Serpa (Austin, TX)

2018 Winners

Category A (Chamber Ensemble) -

Winner:

Downloads, by Jack Frerer (Sydney, Australia)

Runner-Up:

Ausencias, by Carolina Heredia (Córdoba, Argentina)

Honorable Mentions:

Beacon, by Bret Bohman (Columbia, Missouri, USA)

Sparks and Flares, by Michael Seltenreich (Tel Aviv, Israel)

Shimmers the Shivery Moon, by Kai-Young Chan (Hong Kong)

Judges:

Robert Beaser (The Juilliard School)

Gabriela Lena Frank (freelance composer and recent composer-in-residence of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra)

Narong Prangcharoen (Mahidol University and composer-in-residence of the Pacific Symphony)

Category B (Wind Ensemble) -

Winner:

Pillar of Fire, by Patrick Lenz (Eastman, WI)

Runner-Up:

Boogie and Blues, by Roger Briggs (Asheville, NC)

Honorable Mentions:

Cyclotron, by David Biedenbender (East Lansing, MI)

Hivemind, by Peter Van Zandt Lane (Athens, GA)

Category C (Chorus) -

Winner:

Wind on the Island, by Michael D'Ambrosio (Murray, KY)

Runner-Up:

Snow, by Alona Epshtein (Ramat-Gan, Israel)

Honorable Mention:

The Cloak of Sorrow, by Paul Sidney Richards (Gainesville, FL)

2017 Winners

Category A - Chamber Ensemble

Winner
Maple in Twilight, by Zhiyi Wang (Beijing, China)

Runner-Up
Rift and Shade, by Charles Peck (Philadelphia, PA)

Honorable Mentions
Lotus Voice, by Texu Kim (Hillsboro, OR)
He Dreams a Mother, by David Clay Mettens (Chicago, IL)
Wings, by Juhi Bansal (Altadena, CA)

Judges

Margaret Brouwer (Professor Emeritus, Cleveland Institute of Music)

Michio Kitazume (Professor Emeritus, Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music)

Gary Kulesha (University of Toronto)

Category B - Full Orchestra

Winner
The Saqqara Bird, by Melody Eötvös (Bloomington, IN)

Runner-Up
Clouds of Witnesses, by William David Cooper (Cambridge, MA)

Honorable Mention
Relic, by Paul Frucht (Danbury, CT)
Mosaic, by Charles Peck (Philadelphia, PA)
Even in Paradise, by Patrick O'Malley (Los Angeles, CA)

Category C - Chorus

Winner
Gaudete, by Jorge Andres Ballesteros (Cambridge, MA)

Runner-Up
Lux Caelestis, by Timothy Kramer (Jacksonville, IL)

Honorable Mention
O Oriens, by Melissa Dunphy (Philadelphia, PA)
May the Words of my Mouth, by Joshua Fishbein (Rockville, MD)
The Hushed House, by Lucas Flynn (Los Angeles, CA)
L'Immoto Guardo, by Carla Magnan (Genoa, Italy)
2 Chorlieder nach Ch.-M-R. Leconte de Lisle, by Klaus Miehling (Freiburg, Germany)
Salmo 100, by Daniel Musselman (Jackson, TN)

2016 Winners

Category A - Chamber Ensemble

Winner
Ancient Places, by Aaron Travers (Bloomington, IN)

Runner-Up
Time,Thickened, by Pierce Gradone (Chicago, IL)

Honorable Mentions
Morning, by David Braid (London, UK)
Ripple, by Jack Hughes (Chicago, IL)
A Sense of Who, by Annika Socolofsky (Belle Mead, NJ)

Judges
Martin Bresnick (Yale School of Music)
Pierre Jalbert (Rice University Shepherd School of Music)
Judith Shatin (University of Virginia)

Category B - Wind Ensemble

Winner
Panta Rhei, by Ingrid Stölzel (Kansas City, MO)

Runner-Up
Mantra, by Stephen Yip (Houston, TX)

Honorable Mention
WeSeven, by Derek Jenkins (Kansas City, MO)

2015 Winners

Category A - Chamber Ensemble

Winner
push/pull, by Nicholas Omiccioli (Kansas City, MO)

Runners-Up
bang Z, by Thomas Kotcheff (Beverly Hills, CA)
Canoe, by Weijun Chen (Buffalo, NY)

Honorable Mention
...à travers ... encore, by Carl Bettendorf (Bronx, NY)
Extempore Anamnesis, by Jihyun Kim (Bloomington, IN)
quiet rooms, by Igor Santos (Chicago, IL)

Judges
Chen Yi (University of Missouri, Kansas City)
Sebastian Currier (Institute of Advanced Studies, Princeton, NJ)
Stephen Hartke (University of Southern California)

Category B - Chamber Orchestra

Winner
FractalMiniatures, by Roger Zare (Evanston, IL)

Runners-Up
Quiet Arcs / Pulsating Surfaces, by Daniel Fjellström (Malmö, Sweden)
Passacaglia, by William Cooper (Davis, CA)

2014 Winners

Category A - Chamber Ensemble

Winner
Specific Gravity: 2.72, by Lansing McLoskey (Miami, FL)

Runners-Up
Trial and Error, by Ricardo Eizirik (Zurich, Switzerland)
Skyscapes III, by Brian Fennelly (Kingston, NY)

Honorable Mention
Series Imposture, by David Bird (New York, NY)
Tethered Within, by Nina C. Young (New York, NY)
Albertson-Variations, by Paolo Longo (Trieste, Italy)

Judges
Lei Liang (University of California, San Diego)
David Rakowski (Brandeis University)
Barbara White (Princeton University)

Category B - Chamber Orchestra

Winner
Lady Dark, by Michael-Thomas Foumai (Ann Arbor, MI)

Runner-Up
Schism, by David Biedenbender (Novi, MI)

Additional Finalists
Aphorisms and Annotations, by Arne Gieshoff (London, UK)
Gharra, by Christopher Dietz (Perrysburg, OH)
In Memory, by Keith Fitch (Cleveland Heights, OH)
Nimbus, by Paul Hembree (La Jolla, CA)
Ripple Effect, by Takuma Itoh (Honolulu, HI)
Skeumorphic Tendencies, by Ryan Carter (New York, NY)
Slant Apparatus, by Peter Van Zandt Lane (Belmont, MA)
White Darkness, by Amit Gilutz (Ithaca, NY)

2013 Winners

Winner
Forward/Still, by David Kirkland Garner (Durham, NC)

Runners-Up
Sextet, by Gilad Cohen (Israel)
reach, by Nicholas Omiccioli (Kansas City, MO)

Honorable Mention
Fractal Miniatures, by Roger Zare (Talahassee FL)
String Quartet "The Figure", by Judith Lang Zaimont (Maricopa, AZ)
Glass Blue Cleft, by Max Giteck Duykers (Brooklyn, NY)
Push/Pull, by Mark Popeney (Los Angeles, CA)

Judges
Donald Crockett (University of Southern California)
Stacy Garrop (Roosevelt University)
Stephen Jaffe (Duke University)
Eric Moe (University of Pittsburgh)

2012 Winners

Winner
Riffs and Fanfares, by Joseph Turrin (Clifton, NJ)

Runners-Up
String Quartet No. 1 Stylianos Dimou (Rochester, NY)

Honorable Mention
Ten Variations, by Gilad Cohen (Princeton, NJ)
Parachute Dance,by Stephen Feigenbaum (Winchester, MA)
Credo, by Heeyoung Yang (West Lafayette, IN)

Final Round Judge
Stephen Burns, of Fulcrum Point New Music Project

2011 Winners

Winner
Garapan, by Peiying Yuan (Ithaca, NY)

Runner-Up
Remnants, by Joseph Dangerfield (Cedar Rapids, IA)

Honorable Mention
Towards the Flame, by Shawn Brogan Allison (Chicago IL)
Eco di un temp perduto, by Massimo Lauricella (Genoa, Italy)
Fairy Tale, by Moon Young Ha (New York, NY)

Judges
Kurt Rohde (University of California at Davis)
Ken Ueno (University of California at Berkeley)
Laura Schwendinger (University of Wisconsin at Madison)
Carter Pann (University of Colorado at Boulder)