Past winners can be found here.
26th Season of IWC (2019-2020)
The Indianapolis Women's Chorus is pleased to announce its second women's choral composition contest. Composers are invited to submit compositions to Indianapolis Women’s Chorus for performance at a regular IWC concert and a monetary award.
Categories/Eligibility
YOUNG ADULT
- Young Adult applicants must be ages 18-25 but not yet in graduate school as of October 1, 2019.
- Young Adult applicants must live 75%+ of the year in Indiana (this may include being enrolled in an Indiana college or university).
- Young Adult applicants must be female (including trans women).
- Submissions will be accepted through October 1, 2019. All submissions must be received by 11:59 PM on October 1, 2019.
- Teen applicants must be ages 15-19 but not yet in college as of May 15, 2020.
- Teen applicants must be residents of the state of Indiana.
- Teen applicants must be female (including transwomen).
- Submissions will be accepted through May 15, 2020. All submissions must be received by 11:59 PM on May 15, 2020.
- Compositions created as the result of a collaborative group effort or high school class project are eligible.
- Age and other requirements as outlined above for the TEEN category apply to this category as well.
- Submission deadline are the same as the TEEN category.
- The winning applicant in each category will receive a $200 award.
- The winning composition in the Young Adult category will be performed by the Indianapolis Women’s Chorus at the final concert of the 2019-2020 season. The winning composition in the Teen category will be performed by IWC in a regular season concert in fall 2020. Winning composers are encouraged to attend a rehearsal of their composition.
- Winning composers are required to attend the premiere of their compositions. The winning composer will receive free tickets for themselves and immediate family to attend the performance of their composition.
- All submissions must be original compositions and must be written for women’s voices.
- Text must be in alignment with IWC mission and values (www.indianapoliswomenschorus.org/about).
- For any text not in the public domain, written permission from the publisher or author must be submitted for its use and performance.
- Compositions must be unpublished, and the composer’s own original work.
- No arrangements (folk songs, carols, pop songs, etc.) will be accepted.
- Composers may submit only one composition.
- Scored for three or four-part women’s chorus (e.g. SSA, SAA, SSAA) with or without piano accompaniment.
- The choral parts should be written with intermediate, community chorus members in mind.
- Small solo parts can be used.
- A percussion part is optional but must be playable by a single percussionist.
- Choral Range: F3-F5. Brief extensions outside of this range are acceptable.
- Text: Both secular and sacred texts are acceptable. However, sacred texts must be spiritually inclusive or spiritually universal. Texts that support a single religion, advocate for a single religion, or denounce other religions will not be accepted.
- Length: 3-5 minutes with a maximum length of 6 minutes.
- Languages: For languages other than English and Latin, please provide a pronunciation guide or a spoken recording of the text.
Composers retain copyright of music submitted. By submitting a composition in this competition, you (the composer) agree that your composition maybe photocopied for the purposes of adjudication and rehearsal by the Indianapolis Women’s Chorus. Also, you (the composer) grants Indianapolis Women’s Chorus the right to audio and video record the live performance and/or a studio performance of the composition, to distribute the recording for marketing/PR purposes, and to feature the recording on our YouTube page, website, and social media account.
Piece will be adjudicated via the following categories:
- Interest of musical ideas
- Formal design of composition
- Text setting
- Textures
- Appropriateness for IWC to sing
- Difficulty
- Range
- Text source
These pieces are representative of the level of difficulty for the Indianapolis Women’s Chorus’s standard repertoire.
- Lineage composed by Andrea Ramsey (Listen Here)
- Still I Rise composed by Rosephanye Powell (Listen Here)
- O Great Spirit composed by Shawn Kirchner (Listen Here)
- Arise My Love composed by Joan Szymko (Listen Here)
- For more listening samples see our Past Performances page at https://www.indianapoliswomenschorus.org/pastperformances. Here you will find PDFs of our past concert programs.
- YOUNG ADULT: Submissions will be accepted through October 1, 2019. All submissions must be received by 11:59 PM on October 1, 2019.
- TEEN: Submission will be accepted through May 15, 2020. All submissions must be received by 11:59 PM on May 15, 2020.
- GROUP/HIGH SCHOOL CLASS: Submissions will be accepted through May 15, 2020. All submissions must be received by 11:59 PM on May 15, 2020.
Questions can be directed to emerging@indianapoliswomenschorus.org
Young Adult Call for Scores PDF
Teen and High School Contest Announcement
Past winners can be found here.
