Martirano Award
The 31st Annual
Martirano Memorial Award
IMPORTANT DATES:
- Applications open October 1, 2026
- Deadline is April 15, 2027 11:59 PM Central Time
- Winners are announced in June.
Eligibility: Any composer, regardless of age or nationality is eligible. Previous winners, as well as faculty and currently enrolled students at the University of Illinois are ineligible for the award.
Awards: First Prize cash award of $750, and Second Prize cash award of $500. Winning pieces will also receive a performance by the Illinois Modern Ensemble on the Annual Martirano Award Concert on the campus of the University of Illinois. The number of prizes is dependent on the number and quality of entries received; the organizers reserve the right to increase or decrease the number of prizes awarded.
Judges: A panel of judges consisting of international composers and University of Illinois music composition faculty members will select the winning compositions.
Guidelines:
- Medium: Full scores of any style or aesthetic direction for 1-15 performers (all instruments and/or vocalists) may be submitted. Works for electronics and/or mixed media (including video), with or without instruments and voices, are eligible. Recordings of scores are encouraged but not required. The submitted composition may have already been performed, recorded and/or published. While artistic merit remains the primary criterion, considerations such as performability, clarity of notation, and feasibility within available resources may factor into the adjudication process. The winning composers will assume full responsibility for providing adequate performance materials at no cost to the award upon request.
- Duration: 20 minutes maximum.
- Limit: One entry per composer.
- Entry fee: A non-refundable entry fee of twenty US dollars (20.00 USD) is paid online before the composer can submit their music. After you submit your entry fee, you will receive a confirmation email with the link for submitting your score and recording. All major credit cards are accepted. The winners’ award fees, as well as the panelists’ fees, the concert and reception expenses, and those for the resulting concert recording, are funded entirely by the generosity of each composer’s $20 submission fee.
- Anonymous Submission: The composer’s name must not appear on the score or in any accompanying materials submitted online. Only the pseudonym for the composer is to appear.
- The winning composers are invited to attend the award concert and reception and will be responsible for their transportation costs (the competition will provide lodging and some meals). The composers do not have to attend the award concert to be eligible for the award, but we do encourage their participation in the event. We hope that award winners will view this experience as a positive addition to their biographies and recording archives and come to the concert to forge new relationships with other professionals.
Submission Form OPENS OCTOBER 1, 2026
2026 AWARD WINNERS
1st Prize: Deep Summer Folklore (2023) by Andrew Davis
2nd Prize: Three Flows in Quartet (2023) by Yike Zhang
3rd Prize: untitled (2023) by Nathaniel Haering
Honorable Mention: Breath II (2023) by Geli Li
2026 Jury
Stephen Taylor, Professor of Composition, University of Illinois
Bernhard Scully, Professor of Horn, University of Illinois
Christopher Stark, Assoc. Professor of Composition, Washington University in St. Louis
Donnacha Dennehy, Professor of Music, Princeton University
The three prizewinning compositions are scheduled to be performed on the campus of the University of Illinois by the Illinois Modern Ensemble at the annual Martirano Award Concert on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, at the Foellinger Great Hall at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. The composers will be invited to speak about their music at the UI Composers’ Forum and to attend a reception in their honor that will follow the award concert. Profiles and interviews of the composers will also be featured on School of Music news and social media.
Read more about the 2026 winners
For questions please contact Associate Professor Eli Fieldsteel and Adjunct Instructor Victor Zheng
Past Winners
