The AGO/Marilyn Mason Award in Organ Composition is held every two years. Originally known as the AGO/Holtkamp Award, the competition began in partnership with the Holtkamp Organ Company in 1984. In 2012, Marilyn Mason became the new sponsor. The winner of this competition receives a $3,000 prize and a world premiere performance at the AGO National Convention. In addition, arrangements for publication of the winning composition are made between the composer and H.T. FitzSimons, a Fred Bock Music Company. This competition is biennial and calls for a work for organ solo; the specific requirements vary each year the competition is held. The present procedure calls for proposals for the commission of an organ solo work. Rather than prescribed criteria, the competition encourages proposals that reflect a composer’s particular strengths and interests. See the 2026 Guidelines
Award: $3,000 cash prize, publication by H.T. FitzSimons Co. and a premiere performance at the 2026 AGO National Convention.
2024 AGO/Marilyn Mason Award in Organ Composition
Into the Trees, Brooke Joyce’s winning composition, will be premiered on July 3, 2024, at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Berkeley, CA. For more information about the 2024 AGO National Convention click here.
Brooke Joyce’s music has been described as “vividly pictorial” (San Francisco Chronicle) and “exceptionally gripping” (Los Angeles Times) and has been performed by soloists and ensembles around the world, including the Indianapolis Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony, the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic, the Brentano Quartet, the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, the Nash Ensemble, and James Gilchrist. In addition to his concert music, Brooke collaborated on several musical theater works with playwright Frederick Gaines, including Unbekannt, a musical based on the life of the famous Anastasia pretender Anna Anderson, and An Imaginary Line, based on the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. He has also composed an evening-length work for solo singer, dancers and electronics, The Showing of Love, based on the writings of Julian of Norwich, as well as an adaptation of Arnold Lobel’s beloved children’s book, Owl at Home.
A CD of his chamber music, Waves of Stone, was released on the Innova label in 2009, and according to MusicWeb International, features “dramatic pieces which are rhythmically energetic, with … a sense of underlying strength of will.” Brooke is the recipient of the Joseph Bearns Prize, the Wayne Peterson Prize, the Darius Milhaud Award, and many citations from the National Federation of Music Clubs and ASCAP.
Brooke is the Composer-in-Residence at Luther College and a founding faculty member of the International Music Festival of the Adriatic. He lives with his wife, Jennifer, and sons Keegan and Kyle, in a quiet neighborhood in Decorah, a small town in northeast Iowa.
AGO/Marilyn Mason award winning pieces available from H. T. FitzSimons Co.
2022 AGO/Marilyn Mason Award – In Memory Of…, H.T. FitzSimons Co. by Rashaan Rori Allwood
2020 AGO/Marilyn Mason Award—Eine Wolke nahm ihm Weg, H.T. FitzSimons Co. by Joel Peters Listen
2018 AGO/Marilyn Mason Award—Re-Formations (after Bach), H.T. FitzSimons Co., by Mark Kurtz
2016 AGO/Marilyn Mason Award—The Moonpiper, Hinshaw Music HMO193, by Ivan Božičević Listen
2014 No prize was awarded
2012 AGO/Marilyn Mason Award—Festive Voluntary, Hinshaw Music HMO191, by Nicholas O’Neill
2010 AGO Award—Theme and Variations on Le P’ing, Hinshaw Music HMO190, by Michael Bedford
2008 AGO/Holtkamp Award—Prelude and Fugue in F Minor, Hinshaw Music HMO187, by Rachel Laurin
Listen Prelude In F Minor Fugue In F Minor
2006 AGO/Holtkamp Award—Six Sketches on Children’s Hymns, Hinshaw Music HMO183, by Barrie Cabena Listen to recordings by American Public Media’s PIPEDREAMS program
Away in a manger God sees the little sparrow fall Jesus, tender shepherd, hear me
Jesus loves me: Jesus loves me Oriental partibus: Loving Shepherd of thy Sheep
Royal Oak: All things bright and beautiful
2004 AGO/Holtkamp Award—A Sweet for Mother Goose, Hinshaw Music HPO3009, By George Akerley
2002 AGO/Holtkamp Award—What Wondrous Love Is This, O My Soul?, Hinshaw Music HMO179, by Emily Porter
2000 AGO/Holtkamp Award—Song of Ruth and Naomi, Hinshaw Music HMV116, by David Arcus
1998 AGO/Holtkamp Award—Confitemini Domino, Hinshaw Music HMO175, by Carlyle Sharpe
1996 AGO/Holtkamp Award—Fantasia and Fugue on St. Theodulph, Hinshaw Music HMO173, by Aaron Hunt & Three Spirituals for Palm Sunday, Hinshaw Music HMO174, by Robert Greenlee
1994 AGO/Holtkamp Award—Variations Sur Un Vieux Noel, Hinshaw Music HMO171, by Timothy Tikker
1992 AGO/Holtkamp Award—That Line Which Is Earth’s Shadow, Hinshaw Music HPO3008, by Ellen Harrison
1990 AGO/Holtkamp Award—A Practical Progam for Monks, by Frank Ferko
1988 AGO/Holtkamp Award—Variations for Organ and Percussion, by Martin Matalon
1986 AGO/Holtkamp Award—Perceptions of Antiquity, Hinshaw Music HMO153, by Timothy Kramer
1984 AGO/Hotkamp Award—What Seraphs Are Afoot, Hinshaw Music HMO148, by Ingrid Arauco
Committee on New Music
Alexander Meszler, DMA, Director Email
Elisa W. Bickers, DMA, FAGO Email
Anne K. Laver, DMA Email
Bruce E. Neswick, MM, FRSCM, FAGO Email
Peggy Haas Howell, ex officio (Vice President/Councillor for Competitions and New Music) Email
AGO Headquarters Email
