Composition Prize

Contact Info, Fee, and Score Submission Dates:

OPENS: Friday September 18th 2020

DEADLINE: Friday January 1st 2021 @
11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time (EST)
(online signup form and submissions both required to be fully complete by deadline)

The online entry system automatically turns off at this date and time and no further entries will be permitted. Please note your local time if outside EST, and please do not wait until the last minute to avoid technical issues with web browsers, internet connection, etc.!

Winner(s) announced here online:
Friday January 29th 2021

NOTE: NEW FOR 2020:
Our world has unmistakably changed. Our public attention has shifted toward new urgencies (COVID, racism, policing, economic inequality, media influence, disinformation, echo chambers, personal freedom versus public good….)

We are looking for new and unperformed compositions written in response to the current situation in the world—emotions, fears, humor, hope evoked, etc.

We also encourage submissions that may explore new modes of performance with social distancing or alternate technologies in mind. (Full performance notes are requested for works exploring alternate performance methods.) Nobody is sure when in-person group acoustic performance can safely return, so innovative approaches are welcome.

The Camerata Composition Prize is open for entries to composers anywhere in the world each year, with winners announced a few weeks after the deadline for submissions. Our distinguished jury of composition and choral conducting faculty at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) evaluate the anonymously submitted scores.

The quality of submitted works has risen dramatically over the last decade, with many of our selected winners already enjoying distinguished composition careers. We encourage composers of all ages, backgrounds, and musical genres to submit! It’s a treat for us to read through the creative works sent each year, and we look forward to the possibility of recording or performing works by talented living composers.

Submission Guidelines

• One score per composer per entry.
• Anonymous submission. Your name may not appear anywhere in the submitted score!
• Past winners may enter again after one year off following their winning submission. (Ex: a winner in 2002 would be eligible to enter again in 2004.)
• Entry fee of $35 must be paid online through PayPal (no checks). The fee covers administrative costs of running the prize program. The fee must be received by the submission deadline for your work to be considered. There is NO ENTRY FEE for 2020!
• Mixed choir (SATB), maximum divisi SSAATTBB.
• Unaccompanied. Please provide a piano reduction. Recordings are welcome but not required. Please submit any recordings in MP3 format.
• Texts may be sacred or secular.
• Letter of permission from copyright owner absolutely must accompany any submissions using texts not in the public domain (yes, we check all texts!) No exceptions.
• Duration: no longer than 5 minutes.

Eligibility

• Entrants may be of any nationality and age.
• For 2020, we are looking for pieces that have not yet been publicly performed. Also, pieces should not have been previously published.
• We consider a work ‘published’ once its score is available in print or electronic form for payment through any outlet.

Prize

$500 First Prize. A Second Prize ($250) may also be awarded when merited. However, the jury also reserves the right to not award any prizes when submissions are not deemed of sufficient quality or conformance to guidelines.

Depending on season programming and time commitments, the Camerata may also perform winning compositions live in the Cincinnati, Ohio area. Alternatively, the Camerata may choose to record a winning composition, in which case the winning composer would be provided with a digital copy of the final recording.

Questions

Please submit any questions you have about eligibility or details of your entry to Ellen Harrison, Jury Chair at ellen.harrison@uc.edu. Please contact webmaster@cincinnaticamerata.com if you have any technical issues with your submission or payment.

• 1999 Rick Sowash “All Flesh is Grass”
• 2000 Wes Flinn “April”
• 2001 Andrew Duncan “Alleluia”
• 2002 Steve McManaman “Alleluia”
• 2005 Timothy Stephens “In Flanders Fields”
• 2006 Sharon Farber “The Third Mother”
• 2008 Jere Hutcheson “Beehive”
• 2009 Mike D’Ambrosio “Wind on the Island”
• 2010 Robert Paterson “Eternal Reflections”
• 2012 Costas Dafnis “Virgo Mater Regina”
• 2013 Michael Gilbertson “Where the Words Go”
• 2014 Loretta Notareschi “Pace Pace Pace”
• 2015 1st Place: Cristopher Artley “Qui Creavit Caelum”
• 2015 2nd Place: Matthew Recio “How to Survive Vesuvius”
• 2016 C.G. (Sonny) Walden III “Set Me as a Seal”
• 2017 Anthony Esland “Winter”
• 2018 (prize dates switched to after the New Year in 2019)
• 2019 Bonnie McLarty “Autumn Dusk”
• 2020 Dr. Ellen Gilson Voth “Above Gravity”