BMI Composer Awards (Student Composer Awards)
ListedCompetition
- Award
- Individual award amounts are not specified. Special honors include the Ellen Taaffe Zwilich Prize for the most outstanding work and Carlos Surinach Prize for the youngest winner.
- Deadline
- 2027 deadline not yet posted; the 2026 cycle measured age as of February 15, 2026. Sign up on the BMI Foundation site for deadline notices.
- How to apply
- Submit one anonymously scored original classical composition and an audio rendering generated by music-engraving software. Only rendered/MIDI audio is accepted, rather than a live-performance recording; an additional sound file is allowed for electronics/non-notatable elements. A transposed or C-score is allowed. For another author's text provide permission or public-domain proof. No co-composed, previously awarded/recognized, or publisher/record-label contracted works; no identifying marks beyond title/composition. Do not enter the same work in another BMI Foundation award program. The full 2027 portal is not published.
- What you'll need
- A portfolio
- Who can apply
- Published 2026 rules: under age 28 on February 15, 2026, and resident of the U.S./territories or citizen of a Western Hemisphere country. At most two prior BMI Composer Awards, excluding honorable mentions, to reapply. Exact 2027 age-reference date and criteria are not published.
- Good to know
- The program distributes a total $20,000 annual prize budget across winners, not $20,000 per winner. Winners are honored in New York each spring; score donations to the NYPL archive are voluntary. High-school entrants compete with older college/graduate composers.
- Details
- Arts