George Heussenstamm Choral Composition Contest 2025
The CCDA/George Heussenstamm Choral Composition Contest at ECCO now moves into its ninth year! The growing list of wonderfully talented previous winners include Matthew Lyon Hazzard, Kate Crellin, Greg Lapp, Townsend Losey, Mark Growden, Jasper Randall and Nancy Reeves.
Winning composers are invited to attend ECCO for FREE! Could you be next? Find that piece that you have been developing, or start fresh, and get ready to submit your composition with the chance to have it distributed to and read by choral directors from all around the state.
Please visit www.GeorgeHeussenstamm.com to learn more about our talented and generous benefactor.
Winning composers are invited to attend ECCO for FREE! Could you be next? Find that piece that you have been developing, or start fresh, and get ready to submit your composition with the chance to have it distributed to and read by choral directors from all around the state.
Please visit www.GeorgeHeussenstamm.com to learn more about our talented and generous benefactor.
The Contest
Composers: CCDA members who plan to attend the Summer Conference at ECCO 2025 are invited to submit a single, original composition.
Submissions that do not meet the above requirements WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.
Compositions will be judged on the following seven criteria: Overall Effect, Overall Craft, Harmonic Interest, Rhythmic Interest, Melodic Interest, Text Usage, Originality, Cosmetics of Score, and Marketability. As we are interested in finding works that might considered for inclusion in the CCDA Choral Series with Pavane Publishing, we will consider the composition’s marketability.
Winner: The winning composition will be chosen by the CCDA Choral Composition Committee and will be announced on the CCDA website at the end of April 2025. The winning composer will receive a scholarship for tuition, room, and board at ECCO 2025, and will have their composition copied, distributed, and read at the summer conference. The winning composer will also receive a $500 cash prize. The winning score may be given consideration for inclusion in the CCDA Choral Series on Pavane Publishing.
[NOTE: CCDA reserves the right to declare “no winner” if it is deemed appropriate.]
*Unpublished is defined as “not released for public distribution or sale.” Self-published works and works published in audio and/or video formats are also ineligible; if the public can access any version of it, then it is ineligible.
Click button below to contact Choral Composition Chair, Zanaida Robles, for more information.
- Eligibility: Adult composers are invited to submit a single, original composition, not from a larger set. We are looking for single, stand-alone compositions, not sets and not arrangements. Shorter works (3-5 minutes) are preferred. (Previous winners are not eligible to apply.) Winners agree to become members of ACDA.
- Scores: Please submit your anonymous, unpublished score, a cappella or with piano accompaniment (no obbligato instruments), any voicing, along with an anonymous demo recording (MIDI is OK but voices are preferred) to [email protected]. Please use this link to enter all composition and composer information via Google Form. NOTE: Please be sure to remove composer’s name ANYWHERE that it might appear: title page, copyright notice, headers/footers, etc. and even on audio file information.
- Format: All scores must be submitted in PDF format AND all audio files must be in MP3 format.
- Date: Submissions will be accepted from Feb. 15, 2025 through Mar. 15, 2025, 11:59PM PST.
Submissions that do not meet the above requirements WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.
Compositions will be judged on the following seven criteria: Overall Effect, Overall Craft, Harmonic Interest, Rhythmic Interest, Melodic Interest, Text Usage, Originality, Cosmetics of Score, and Marketability. As we are interested in finding works that might considered for inclusion in the CCDA Choral Series with Pavane Publishing, we will consider the composition’s marketability.
Winner: The winning composition will be chosen by the CCDA Choral Composition Committee and will be announced on the CCDA website at the end of April 2025. The winning composer will receive a scholarship for tuition, room, and board at ECCO 2025, and will have their composition copied, distributed, and read at the summer conference. The winning composer will also receive a $500 cash prize. The winning score may be given consideration for inclusion in the CCDA Choral Series on Pavane Publishing.
[NOTE: CCDA reserves the right to declare “no winner” if it is deemed appropriate.]
*Unpublished is defined as “not released for public distribution or sale.” Self-published works and works published in audio and/or video formats are also ineligible; if the public can access any version of it, then it is ineligible.
Click button below to contact Choral Composition Chair, Zanaida Robles, for more information.
