The ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards

Eligibility

Grade levels

High school, College undergraduate, College graduate

Fields of study

Music

Application requirements

• Complete the online application within the entry window: The 2026 window ran January 6 to February 6 at 11:59 p.m. ET. ONE submission per entrant: if you send more, only the first qualifies and the rest are disqualified. You must also be an ASCAP writer member in good standing, unaffiliated with any PRO, or a member of an international PRO whose works ASCAP licenses. Read the Official Rules first; entering binds you to them.
• Submit the score of one original concert work: Published or unpublished, but no arrangements and no co-written works. It must be entirely your own (no sampling) and written within the three years before submission. Unlike the BMI Composer Awards, ASCAP requires every uploaded item to separately BEAR YOUR NAME -- do not reuse an anonymized BMI score here. Previous recipients of three or more Morton Gould awards are ineligible; other past Foundation winners may enter only a work written after the one that won.
• Submit an mp3 of an electronic realization or recording: ASCAP accepts either an electronic realization or an actual recording of the work.
• Have a parent or guardian apply on your behalf and file the Parental Consent Form: Required if you are under 18 (or the age of majority where you live): the parent or guardian must complete and submit the online application FOR you, and upload the signed Parental Consent Form with it. The completed hard-copy form must be received by the deadline. Do not put a minor's email or phone on the application or the consent form.
• Clear the rights to any text you set: For vocal compositions setting text or a translation: provide evidence the text is in the public domain, or written permission from the author, translator, publisher, or estate.