NEW & EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT!
Underrepresented Composer’s Prize – beginning in November, 2025
We are pleased to announce the creation of a new Underrepresented Composer’s Prize in the WSMTA-MTNA Performance Competition this fall (November 7-9, 2025). Students will have an option to use ONE of their repertoire pieces to be considered for the new award, which shall include Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), Women, and other composers underrepresented in the standard concert repertoire, which primarily consists of Western European art music from the past four centuries.
To begin this new adventure, the judges will choose ONE WINNER from every division, with hope and expectation that this will grow to include more winners and prize money in future years. Judges will select ONE WINNER in each of the following categories:
Young Artist (Piano): $125
Young Artist (Strings): $125
Young Artist (Winds): $125
Senior Division (Piano): $100
Senior Division (Piano Duet): $100
Senior Division (Strings): $100
Senior Division (Winds): $100
Junior Division (Piano): $75
Junior Division (Strings): $75
Junior Division (Winds): $75
Teachers and students are encouraged to peruse the compiled list of eligible composers linked here. Students are not restricted to selecting a piece by a composer on this list. However, if a piece selected is not by a composer on the list, please contact the Composers Committee members (consisting of Dr. Lark Powers (piano), Dr. Ross Salvosa (piano), Jane Melin (strings), and copy Julie Swienty) by AUGUST 15th to have the composer approved (in future years, the deadline will be June 1st). This step is required only for pieces by composers not yet appearing on the WSMTA list.
Please be advised that the Composers Committee shall be the final arbiter of whether a particular work qualifies for the award. If the work is deemed ineligible for the award, this information will be communicated to the student/teacher shortly after the deadline.
Only one piece per student may be eligible for this new special prize. If a student’s program has more than one piece of repertoire in this category, ONLY ONE MAY BE LISTED for consideration (this choice is up to the student and teacher). Please note, regardless of the special prize, WSMTA-MTNA encourages teachers and students to explore varied repertoire and to learn many pieces by underrepresented composers.
Students will be required to submit a registration form on the WSMTA website here (separate from the registration on the MTNA website) to indicate the repertoire to be considered for the award. The deadline to submit the repertoire for this award is Wednesday September 10th, 2025, 12pm PST (same as the MTNA registration deadline). The WSMTA registration form will require you to clearly designate your chosen repertoire piece, in order to be included in the list for the Judges to consider for this award.
WSMTA Leadership and the MTNA State Judges are excited to hear inclusive performances and a broader range of representation. However, this is not a requirement to enter the competition. We hope participation in the Underrepresented Composer’s Prize will be embraced by many!
In addition, the 2025 Winners will be invited to perform in the Washington Winners Concert at our Annual Conference in June of 2026!
Sincerely,
Julie Swienty, NCTM at: [email protected]
Jason Kuo, NCTM at: [email protected]
And the WSMTA Board of Directors