NBA/William D. Revelli Composition Contest
NBA/William D. Revelli Memorial Composition Contest
Sponsored by J.W. Pepper
The William D. Revelli Memorial Composition Contest has awarded prizes since 1977. It is named after Dr. William Revelli, who served as Director of Bands at the University of Michigan for 36 years, and served as NBA President from 1976-78. It is the desire of the National Band Association that the winning compositions from this contest reflect its mission in helping further the cause of quality literature for bands in America. Additionally, works chosen as winners should be those not only of significant structural, analytical, and technical quality, but also of such nature that will allow bands to program them as part of their standard repertoire. As a result, a glance through our list of past winners will reveal some very familiar names.
Each year the contest receives approximately 50-80 entries from all over the world. Entries range in scope and quality and are from new to well established veteran composers. During the evaluation process, entries are narrowed down to a select number of finalists, which are brought to Chicago each December during the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic. There, a panel of leading public school, university, and military band directors meets to determine a winner.
2023 Revelli Composition Contest Flyer and Guidelines (pdf)
2022 Contest Winner: James David
Each year, the NBA William D. Revelli Memorial Composition Contest Committee gathers at the Midwest Conference to select the piece they believe best reflects the mission to help further the cause of quality literature for bands in America. The 2022 winner is James David with his winning work titled Flying Jewels.
Dr. James M. David (b. 1978) is an internationally recognized composer who currently serves as professor of music composition at Colorado State University and is particularly known for his works involving winds and percussion. His symphonic works for winds have been performed by numerous prominent professional and university ensembles including the U.S. Air Force Band, the U.S. Army Field Band, the Dallas Winds, the Des Moines Symphony, the Showa Wind Symphony (Japan), and the North Texas Wind Symphony among many others. His compositions have been presented at more than sixty national and international conferences throughout North and South America, Asia, Europe, and Australia. These events include the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, the American Bandmasters Association Convention, the College Band Directors National Association Conferences, the College Music Society National Conference, the Society of Composers, Inc. National Conference, seven International Clarinet Fests, the International Horn Symposium, the World Saxophone Congress, the International Trombone Festival, and the Percussive Arts Society International Convention. Among the distinctions David has earned as a composer are winner of the 2022 William D. Revelli Composition Contest, an ASCAP Morton Gould Award, the National Band Association Merrill Jones Award, national first-place winner in the MTNA Young Artists Composition Competition, two Global Music Awards, and national first-place winner in the National Association of Composers (USA) Young Composers Competition. Commissions include projects for Joseph Alessi (New York Philharmonic), John Bruce Yeh (Chicago Symphony Orchestra), Zachary Shemon (Prism Quartet), the Aries Trombone Quartet, BlueShift Percussion Quartet, Gerry Pagano (St. Louis Symphony), The Playground Ensemble, the National Band Association, and the Atlantic Coast Conference Band Directors Association.
As a native of southern Georgia, Dr. David began his musical training under his father Joe A. David, III, a renowned high school band director and professor of music education in the region. This lineage can be heard in his music through the strong influence of jazz and other Southern traditional music mixed with contemporary idioms. He graduated with honors from the University of Georgia and completed his doctorate in composition at Florida State University under Guggenheim and Pulitzer recipients Ladislav Kubik and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. His works are represented on over twenty commercially released recordings on the Naxos, Summit, Mark, Albany, Parma, MSR Classics, GIA Windworks, and Luminescence labels and are published by Murphy Music Press, C. Alan Publications, Potenza Publishing, and Excelsia Music.
For more information on the composer and his work, visit his website.
Contest Selection Committee
- Chair: Matthew McCutchen, University of South Florida
- Terry Austin, Virginia Commonwealth University (retired)
- Marcellus Brown, Boise State University (ID)
- Catharine Sinon Bushman, St. Cloud State University (MN)
- Col. Jason Fettig, United States Marine Band (DC)
- Arris Golden, Michigan State University
- Jennifer Hamilton, Red Mountain High School (AZ)
- Chadwick Kamei, Pearl City High School (HI)
- Tremon Kizer, University of Central Florida
- Diane Koutsulis, Retired (NV)
- Jason Nam, Indiana University
- Sue Samuels, Furman University (SC)
- Shanti Simon, University of Oklahoma
- John Thomson, Roosevelt University (IL)
Previous Winners of the NBA/William D. Revelli Composition Contest
| Composer | Title | Publisher | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frank Ticheli | Lux Perpetua | Manhattan Beach | 2021 |
| Brian Balmages | Love and Light | Canzonique Music Company | 2020 |
| Omar Thomas | Come Sunday | Composer | 2019 |
| Wayne Oquin | Song for Silent Voices | Composer | 2018 |
| James Stephenson | Symphony No. 2 "Voices" | Composer | 2017 |
| Philip Sparke | A Colour Symphony | Anglo Music Press | 2016 |
| Paul Dooley John Mackey | Masks and Machines Wine-Dark Sea | Composer Composer | 2015 2015 |
| Wayne Oquin | Affirmation | Composer | 2014 |
| Oliver Waespi | Audivi Media Nocte | Hal Leonard-deHaske | 2013 |
| Michael Schelle | The End of the World | Composer | 2012 |
| Scott Lindroth Kevin Walczyk | Passage Epitaphs Unwritten | Composer Composer | 2011 2011 |
| Steven Bryant | Ecstatic Waters | Composer | 2010 |
| John Mackey | Aurora Awakes | Composer | 2009 |
| Steven Bryant | Suite Dreams | Composer | 2008 |
| Steven Bryant | Radiant Joy | Composer | 2007 |
| Frank Ticheli | Symphony No. 2 | Manhattan Beach | 2006 |
| Philip Sparke | Music of the Spheres | Anglo Music Press | 2005 |
| Joseph Turrin | Illuminations for Solo Trombone and Wind Symphony | Composer | 2004 |
| David Dzubay Sam Hazo | Ra! Perthshire Majesty | Pro Nova Music Boosey & Hawkes | 2003 2003 |
| Dean Roush | Illuminations | Composer | 2002 |
| Joseph Spaniola | Escapade | Musica Propria | 2001 |
| David Kechley | Restless Birds Before the Dark Moon | Pine Valley | 2000 |
| Donald Grantham | Southern Harmony | Piquant | 1999 |
| Donald Grantham | Fantasy Variations | Piquant | 1998 |
| Warren Benson | The Drums of Summer | Composer | 1997 |
| Walter Mays | Dreamcatcher | Composer | 1996 |
| Donald Grantham | Bum's Rush | Piquant | 1995 |
| Jeffrey Hass | Lost in the Fun House | Composer | 1994 |
| James Syler | The Hounds of Heaven | Composer | 1993 |
| Ron Nelson | Passacaglia (Homage on B-A-C-H) | Ludwig | 1992 |
| Mark Camphouse | To Build a Fire | TRN | 1991 |
| Paul Epstein | The Adventures of Matinee Concerto | Composer | 1990 |
| Gordon Ring | Concerto for Piano, Winds, and Percussion | Composer | 1989 |
| Martin Mailman | For Precious Friends Hid in Death's Dateless Nights | Ludwig | 1988 |
| Anthony Iannaccone | Apparitions for Symphonic Band | Ludwig | 1987 |
| No Award Made | 1986 | ||
| Michael Colgrass | Winds of Nagual | Fischer (Rental) | 1985 |
| Arthur Gottschalk | Concerto for Wind and Percussion Orchestra | Composer | 1984 |
| Gregory Youtz | Scherzo for a Bitter Moon | TRN | 1983 |
| No Award Made | 1982 | ||
| David Gillingham | Concerto for Bass Trombone and Band | Fischer (Rental) | 1981 |
| Byron Tate | Between Worlds | Composer | 1980 |
| Harry Bulow | Textures | TRN | 1979 |
| Jerome Sorczek | Variations for Band | Composer | 1977 |
NBA/Merrill Jones Composition Contest
NBA/Merrill Jones Memorial Young Band Composition Contest
The NBA/Merrill Jones Memorial Young Band Composition Contest was established in 1991 as a memorial to Merrill Jones, co-owner of Wingert-Jones Music Company, by his widow, Priscilla Jones. Mr. Jones was concerned always with helping the young composer. NBA past president Robert (Bob) Foster suggested a young composer contest, which would promote works for young bands. The result was a contest for composers under 40 years of age to be held every other year, now in the even numbered years, and which would produce works for concert band in the Grade 3-4 category.
Works must not exceed eight (8) minutes in length, must be the original work of the composer, and not be under contract to any publisher. Deadline for submission is November 1st. The contest is held every two years unless no winner is chosen. Wingert-Jones reserves the right of first refusal for publication. The current prize to the winner is $2000. The winner is announced at the NBA General Membership Meeting at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago following a meeting of the contest committee. The contest committed is chaired by NBA member Paul Popiel.
2024 Merrill Jones Composition Contest Application will be posted in late 2023.
2022 Contest Winner: Isabella Morrill
Every two years, the NBA Merrill Jones Memorial Young Band Composition Contest Committee gathers at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago to select a work which best reflects the ideals of this committee. The 2022 winner is Isabella Morrill with her winning work titled Voyage of the Northern Lights.
Isabella Morrill, born & raised on the stormy coast of Oregon, is a composer and arranger specializing in wind ensemble and concert band music, film, and orchestral scores. Her music is most often dramatic & solemn, and her goal is to bring rich tangibility those who listen to her compositions. She is a dual citizen of the USA and Finland, and one of her great joys is to tie her Scandinavian heritage closely into her music.
In the fall of 2019, Isabella was titled co-champion of the Oregon Music Education Association’s Composition Contest with her orchestral piece Hymn to the Rain. This piece went on to be performed by the Columbia River Symphony in Astoria, Oregon & led to her gaining a commission through the Newport Youth Composer Symposium. This symposium led her to work with Dr. Dana Reason and Michael Dalton in her composition training. She is a recipient of the Oregon Music Hall of Fame scholarship as well as the Finlandia Foundation Scholarship as a composer.
Isabella attends Western Oregon University on scholarship as a composition major in her junior year, studying under Dr. Kevin Walczyk. She works there as the Resident Composer, writing and arranging for the Western Oregon Wind Ensemble. During both her freshman and sophomore years, she was named outstanding under-graduate composer in Walczyk’s studio. She also was commissioned by the Portland Youth Philharmonic through the Youth Orchestra Commissioning Initiative in 2021. Her commissioned piece, Bartokian Brass, was performed in June of the same year by the brass ensemble of the PYP. Through this, she has gained statewide recognition as an up-and-coming composer in the concert band world.
In 2021, Isabella was chosen to be a part of a Dave Metzger Masterclass and present a film score she had written. Metzger, a well-renowned composer & orchestrator who works closely with Disney studios, has had close ties with Walczyk, leading Isabella to this opportunity.
Her sophomore year led to a commissioned band work from Washington High School in Tacoma, as well as a commissioned work from Chief Umtuch Middle School in Battleground. Since then, Isabella has been focusing on writing for band and wind ensemble.
For more information on this composer and his music, visit his website.
Contest Selection Committee
- Chair: Paul Popiel, University of Kansas
- Lt. Cmdr. Kelly Cartwright, U.S. Navy Fleet Band Activities (TN)
- Nan Moore, Retired (KY)
- Brooke Johnson, Miami University (OH)
- Scott Pierson, 133rd Army Band (WA)
- Mickey Stisher, Retired (IN)
- Chris Chapman, Central Michigan University
- Brian Walden, Samford University (AL)
- Sarah Labovitz, Arkansas State University
- Charles Page, Valley View Fine Arts Center (AR)
Previous Winners of the NBA/Merrill Jones Composition Contest
| Composer | Title | Publisher | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isabella Morrill | Voyage of the Northern Lights | 2022 | |
| Tom Davoren | A Midwestern Suite | 2020 | |
| James M. David | With Soul Serene | Wingert Jones | 2018 |
| Joshua Hummel | Fanfare for the Appalachians: I-77 | Wingert Jones | 2016 |
| David Faleris | Of Chivalry and Valor | Wingert Jones | 2014 |
| Jess Turner | Exultant Heart | Wingert Jones | 2012 |
| Jack Hughes | After Rain | Wingert Jones | 2010 |
| No Award Given | 2009 | ||
| Ryan Main | The Clash | Wingert Jones | 2007 |
| Brett Dietz | shards of glass | Wingert Jones | 2005 |
| Jonathan Newman | Moon by Night | Wingert Jones | 2003 |
| Samuel Hazo | Novo Lenio | Wingert Jones | 2001 |
| Charles Rochester Young | Legends of the Northern Wind | Southern | 1999 |
| No Award Given | 1998 | ||
| Robert T. Smith | Panther Fire | Southern | 1996 |
| David Checketts | Festival de Ladrones (Festival of Thieves) | TRN Publishers | 1994 |
| Robert Cronin | A Soldier's March | Wingert Jones | 1992 |
NBA/Alfred Young Band Composition Contest
NBA/Alfred Publishing Young Band Composition Contest
Sponsored by Alfred Publishing
The NBA/Alfred Publishing Young Band Composition Contest is sponsored by Alfred Publishing. Special thanks to composer and music educator Robert Sheldon for his support and guidance in establishing this special partnership with the National Band Association. This young band contest seeks to find composers writing for grades 1-3. There is a cash prize for the winner, plus the possibility of the winning work being published in Alfred’s Young Band catalog. For information, email the contest chair, Audrey Murphy.
2024 NBA/Alfred Publishing Young Band Composition Contest Application Information will be posted soon.
2022 Contest Winner: Steven J. Pyter
The National Band Association is pleased to announce that PROXIMA B by Steven J. Pyter is the winning composition of the 2022 NBA/Alfred Young Band Composition Contest.
Steven Pyter is a music educator, composer, and arranger from the Chicago area. He has taught a variety of instrumental, vocal, and general music classes at the high school level throughout his career. Steven received his Bachelor of Music degree from Northern Illinois University (DeKalb) and his Master of Music Education degree with teacher certification from VanderCook College of Music (Chicago, IL). His compositions and arrangements are available internationally and have been performed at concert and festivals throughout the United States, including the Midwest Clinic.
About the winning composition, PROXIMA B:
Where in the galaxy, other than Earth, could human life survive? Proxima B may be the answer to this cosmic question. The planet orbits the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, which is the closest star to our Sun. First discovered in 2016, NASA says, “The exoplanet is at a distance from its star that allows temperatures mild enough for liquid water to pool on its surface.” Journey over four light years to the twin star system of Alpha Centauri in the adventurous new piece for the developing concert band! Hear and feel the excitement and danger of traveling beyond our solar system to Proxima B in this sci-fi inspired, cinematic-style concert work that is sure to capture the imagination of performers and audiences alike!
To learn more about PROXIMA B and composer Steven Pyter, visit his website.
Contest Selection Committee
- Chair: Audrey Murphy, Hopewell Middle School (GA)
- Gregory Denson, East Cobb Middle School (GA)
- Arris Golden, Michigan State University (MI)
- Tyler Grant, Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School (GA) / Composer
- Tiffany Hitz, Rachel Carson Middle School (VA)
- Christopher Shumick, Milton High School (GA)
Previous Winners
2020: Brooke Pierson – The Lighthouse Keeps Watch
2018: Andrew Perkins – Gradients
2016: Haley Woodrow – And it Begins
2014: Erika Svanoe – The Haunted Carousel
2012: Clifton Jones – Rondo Picoso
NBA Young Composers Jazz Composition Contest
NBA Young Composers Jazz Composition Contest
Sponsored by University of Florida Bands
2023 NBA Young Composers Jazz Composition Contest Application Information (pdf)
Application deadline – July 15, 2023
Have a question? Nee more Information?
Email Contest Chair, Richard Stichler
2022 Contest Winner: Clint Bleil
Clint Bleil’s original composition, It Matters, won the 2022 NBA Young Composers Jazz Composition Contest. The work was performed at the 2022 Midwest Clinic by the United States Air Force Airmen of Note on Tuesday, December 20th at McCormick Place.
Clint Bleil is a composer and saxophonist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Clint has degrees in Music Education and Saxophone Performance from Slippery Rock University, where he studied under Jason Kush. Clint recently received his master’s degree in Studio Jazz Writing from the University of Miami, where he studied composition under Gary Lindsay, John Daversa, and Carlos Rafael Rivera.
Clint has received numerous awards in composition and arranging. He has received a Jazz Education Network Young Composer Showcase Award (2022), an ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award (2021), and an International Jazz Composers SONIC Award (2019). His music has been performed throughout the country at the Midwest Clinic, the JEN Convention, the ISJAC Conference, and more. Clint has composed, arranged, and transcribed for multiple different groups and ensembles, including the Sal “The Voice” Valentinetti, Bob Reynolds, Project TRIO, and the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra.
Clint is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Washington & Jefferson College, where he teaches multiple lessons and classes as well as leads the Jazz and Wind Ensemble. He also offers private woodwind lessons throughout the Pittsburgh area. Clint also is a member of the Pittsburgh pop/rock group, “No Bad Juju.” He regularly performs in the Pittsburgh area with his quartet that focuses on modern jazz arrangements and compositions, as well as a funk/fusion group that he co-leads with his brother.
Learn more about this composer and his music here.
Previous Winners
2021: No winner
2020: No contest
2019: Jorge Machain – Por Ahora
2018: Matt Horanzy – Init 1
2017: No prize awarded
2016: Cassio Vianna – April Song
2015: Jessika Smith – Cyan Thread
2014: Sean Nelson – Every Possible History of the Universe
2013: David von Kampen – Hodie Christus Natus Est
2012: Brendon McMullin – Sal y Pimienta
2011: Susumu Watanabe – Duodecim