BMI Composer Awards

The BMI Composer Awards is an annual competition open to young composers engaged in the creation of classical music. Established in 1951, it is BMI's oldest awards program and is widely regarded as the premier recognition for young composers of classical music in the Western Hemisphere. Since its inception, the competition has awarded over 600 awards to musicians, including twenty future Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists. Co-sponsored by BMI and the BMI Foundation, awards totaling $20,000 are determined annually for works for any instrumentation and in any classical genre, submitted by composers under the age of 28. All works are judged anonymously by a panel of esteemed classical composers. Winners are honored at an award ceremony in New York City each spring. A special Ellen Taaffe Zwilich Prize is awarded to the composer whose work is judged "most outstanding" in the competition, while the Carlos Surinach Prize recognizes the youngest winner. Past winners include luminaries such as John Adams, William Bolcom, Kevin Puts, and Joseph Schwantner.