Scholarship
BMI Composer Awards (formerly BMI Student Composer Awards)
BMI Foundation
Award
awards totaling $20,000 annually, shared among multiple winners
Deadline
~Jan 15, 2027
Estimated; confirm on sponsor site
Annual competition recognizing young composers of classical/concert music who are under age 28. Applicants must reside in the U.S. or its territories, or be citizens of any country in the Western Hemisphere; works are judged anonymously.
Eligibility
- Grade levels
- High school, College undergraduate, College graduate
- Fields of study
- Music
Application requirements
- Submit one application before the deadline: The 2026 deadline was January 15; the next cycle's date is not yet published. You may submit only ONE application per BMI Foundation awards program, and may not send the same work to more than one of their programs. You may reapply only if you have not already won more than two BMI Composer Awards (Honorable Mention excluded).
- Prepare the anonymized score of your original composition: Judging is anonymous: the score may carry NO name or identifying marks beyond the title and composition. Both transposed and C-scores are accepted. The work may not be co-composed, may not have won any other award or recognition, and may not be under contract with a publisher or record label. Any instrumentation and any classical genre is allowed.
- Generate an audio rendering from your engraving program: Only audio renderings ("midi" files) generated from your music engraving software are accepted -- a live recording will not do; the sponsor does this to keep the playing field equal. If your score has non-notatable elements or electronics, you may add a further sound file.
- Provide permission or public-domain proof for any text you set: Only if your score contains text you did not write: submit a letter of permission from the writer, or proof the text is in the public domain.
Verified Jun 25, 2026 · View official source