Introducing the Washington Heights Choir School Composition Competition 2025

Open call for scores, due March 21, 2025

The Washington Heights Choir School (WHCS) is excited to announce a call for scores for children’s choir and piano that have not been published, recorded, or professionally premiered, from any composers. 

The winner will have their composition performed and recorded by the WHCS choristers in New York City in 2025 and will receive a prize of $1000.

WHCS is a free after-school choir program established in 2011 and currently consists of around 30 choristers between the ages of 6 and 12. Many students come from households where the primary language spoken is Spanish, and/or are bilingual in English/Spanish. More information is available on our website, www.whchoirschool.org

Eligibility:

Open to all composers based in the US and eligible to receive income in the US.

Deadline for submission:

All submissions must be made by March 21st, 2025 at 11:59pm EST. Applicants will be informed of results by April 4th, 2025.

Fee and Compensation:

  • There is no entry fee. 

  • No more than one entry will be accepted per person.

  • A total of one composition will be selected to be premiered in 2025 in New York City by the WHCS choristers. The composer will receive $1000.

Guidelines:

  1. All scores must be written for children's choir and piano.

  2. Compositions should be between 2-4 minutes long.

  3. Unison or two-part harmony may be employed.

  4. The piece should be written with the specific characteristics of the Washington Heights Choir School in mind: 30 singers with ages between 6 and 12 years old, all of them with high voices (S,A). 

  5. The text should be secular, and be may be in English or in Spanish. In case of a pre-existing text, the composer must obtain the necessary permission to use it. Creative settings of folk melodies or texts in the public domain are welcome. 

  6. Your submission must include both a PDF of the score, and a MIDI recording of it. 

NOTE: Scores that do not match these requirements will not be considered

Criteria for Evaluation:

The compositions will be evaluated based on the creativity, quality, and idiomatic writing of the score as well as the suitability of the piece for the skills and capabilities of our choir.

How to Submit Your Proposal:

All submissions must be sent via our submission form, available here: https://bit.ly/WHCScompetition

Questions?

Please don’t hesitate to ask! Send any inquiries to info@whchoirschool.org