The AGO’s choral competition can be traced back to Walter Clemson, an AGO founder. Mr. Clemson sponsored a prize for choral composition in 1896 where the first prize was a gold medal worth $50. An AGO competition in choral composition continued in several different formats for much of the past century. Building on that history and experience, in 1985 the AGO Committee on New Music created a new choral competition first with M. P. Möller and then ECS Publishing as the award sponsor. The AGO/ECS Publishing Award is now held in alternate years and attracts a wide variety of submissions. The competition seeks outstanding compositions for SATB chorus and organ in which the organ plays a distinctive and significant role; requirements vary for each competition. See the 2026 guidelines.
Award: $2,000 cash prize, publication of the piece by ECS Publishing, and a world premiere performance at the 2026 AGO National Convention.
2024 AGO/ECS Publishing Award in Choral Composition
Songs of the People, Brooke Joyce’s winning composition, will be premiered on July 4, 2024, at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. 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.
Listen to past AGO/ECS awarded compositions.
2022 AGO/ECS – Earth, Strike Up Your Music (SATB & organ),#9170 by Jessica French
2020 AGO/ECS – Where In God’s Truth (SATB & organ) by Shawn Crouch
2018 AGO/ECS – Deep River, ECS #8561 (SATB & organ), by Mary Beth Bennett
2016 AGO/ECS – The Voice of the Lord, ECS#8384, (SATB, trumpet & organ), by Michael Gilbertson
2014 AGO/ECS – Kyrie eleison, ECS #8034, (SATB & organ), by Ivan Božičević
2012 AGO/ECS—There is a flow’r, ECS #7780, (SATB & organ, for Advent), by Alan Smith
2010 AGO/ECS—May Your Life Be Filled With Gladness, ECS #7424, (SATB, organ, optional oboe) by Neil Stipp
2008 AGO/ECS—Rejoice the Lord is King, ECS #6992, (SATB, organ) by Stephen Fraser
2006 AGO/ECS—The Day of Pentecost, ECS #6547, (SATB, organ) by Barrie Cabena
2004 AGO/ECS—Psalm 96, ECS #6207, (SATB, organ, trumpet in C) by Michael Bedford
2002 AGO/ECS—Laudate Nomen, ECS #5783, (SATB, organ) by Carlyle Sharpe
2000 AGO/ECS—Gloria, ECS #5420, (SATB, harp, organ) by Aaron Travers
1998 AGO/ECS—Psalm 122, ECS #5143, (tenor solo, SATB & organ) by Carlyle Sharpe
1996 AGO/ECS—God’s Grandeur, ECS #5037, (SATB & organ) by Don Freund
1994 AGO/ECS—Welcome All Wonders, ECS #4813, (SATB, organ) by James Hopkins
1991 AGO/Möller Award—The Peace Which Passeth Understanding, ECS #4672, (SATB, organ) by James Hopkins
1989 AGO/Möller Award—Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, ECS #4382, (SATB, organ) by James Gardner
1987 AGO/Möller Award—Psalm VIII, ECS #4143, (soprano solo, SATB, organ) by David Evan Thomas Listen to Psalm VIII
1984-85 (not associated with Möller or ECS) —Let There Be Light, ECS #3169, (SATB, organ) by Gilbert Martin
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
