2021 NAfME Student Composers Competition

student composers

About the Competition

NAfME is seeking original music by student composers for featured performance at the 2022 NAfME All-National Honor Ensembles event. Teachers and students are invited to submit original student compositions for Saxophone Quartet or Concert Band. Cash prizes will be awarded to winners and honorable mentions.

Students in elementary school, secondary school, college, and graduate school are eligible to submit compositions. Compositions submitted that fall outside of the orchestral or chamber instrumentation guidelines will be adjudicated but will not be eligible for awards or for performance.  

Up to 13 selected composers will receive cash awards, thanks to the generous support of the European American Musical Alliance (Dr. Philip Lasser, president). All entrants will receive written evaluations of their compositions.

 

 

How to Apply

The virtual performance of the winning compositions from the 2020 Student Composers Competition with the award-winning Akropolis Reed Quintet took place on March 29 to close out Music In Our Schools Month®. View recording.

2021 Student Composers Competition Winners:

K-8

Jasper Zimmerman for the piece, Going Places

  • Farragut Middle School, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York
  • Teacher, Jonathan Riss

Honorable Mention:

Kennah Brackett for the piece, Flying High

  • Flagstaff Academy Middle School, Longmont, Colorado
  • Teacher, Sean Kemp

High School

Ziyi Tao for the piece, Re-Collection (Wenn ich gedenk der Stund)

  • Special Music School High School, New York, New York
  • Teacher, Max Grafe

Noah Tan for the piece, Fanfare and Celebration

  • Culver Academies, Culver, Indiana
  • Teacher, David Weirich

Honorable Mention:

Aron Stornaiuolo for the piece, The Other Side, I. Righty Loosey

  • University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
  • Teacher, Phillip Beidenbender

Kyle Sapp for the piece, Antecedent Spectors

  • West Forsyth High School, Clemmons, North Carolina
  • Teacher, Patricia Hughes-Ball

Collegiate

Joanne Na for the piece, Juice of Dreams

  • University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon

David Mailman for the piece, Postal Overture: Concert Prelude for Wind Ensemble

  • Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee

Honorable Mention:

Daniel Swartz for the piece, Brushstrokes/Neon

  • Ohio University, Athens, Ohio

Matt Arnett for the piece, Broken Mind, Beautiful Life

  • Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah

 

*Previously published works are not eligible for submission in the competition.

*Submission implies permission for NAfME to perform and record all selected works.