Free-to-Enter Composition Awards & Prizes
In light of the recent pushback towards the Ivors Academy Composer Awards and their increased application fees, here are some composition awards that are free to enter, which provide monetary, workshop, performance and publication opportunities for those who are lucky to win. If you think our site is valuable, you can support us on Ko-fi, where anyone who feels like it can gift us the price of a coffee with no strings attached. Thank you.
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The Lord Mayor’s Composition Prize is for young composers aged under 35 to provide a biennial prize for classical composition. With a prize of £5,000, previous competitions were writing for organ, piano trio, wind quintet, a setting for choir, solo piano - and is currently open for saxophone quartet submissions.
This prize is currently open for applications, and the deadline is 30 September 2026 >>
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The UniBrass Composition Competition is an exciting opportunity for young composers across the United Kingdom. Open to current students, recent graduates and anyone aged 18-25, this competition challenges and promotes young new composers to create original works for the brass banding world. The winning entry will be put forward for potential publication with Wright & Round Music Publishers.
This competition is currently open for applications, and the deadline is 6th December 2026 >>
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There are two prizes for original jazz compositions: £1500 for a composition for Big Band and £1000 for a composition for Small Ensemble (7-9 players). Entrants must be aged 28 or under on the date that their entry is submitted. The next competition will be in late 2026 and entry forms and regulations will be available from September 2026.
The next competition will be available from September 2026 >>
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The winner of the prize receives a bursary of £1,000 to support their professional development. This can be used to fund expenses such as further mentoring, purchasing equipment or software, or contributing to recording costs. Selected finalists will also have the opportunity to workshop their piece with London Mozart Players and a professional mentor.
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The annual NCEM Young Composers Award was launched in 2008 and is the only such scheme in the UK. It offers a unique opportunity for young composers to engage with the instruments and performance styles of early music, and to work with leading professional early musicians.
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The prize winner will be awarded £1,000 and commissioned to compose a new work for Liverpool Philharmonic’s 10:10 ensemble. During the commission period, the winner will take part in workshops, masterclasses and mentoring sessions with composers, musicians, conductors and other industry professionals who are friends of the Phil.
The Award has the purpose of encouraging young composers to create a beautiful, new, free-thinking and personal symphonic work with a tonal basis. An award of £5,000 will be given for a one movement work of any duration for Symphonic Orchestra. The music can be a stand-alone work or a movement from a symphony that makes sense by itself.
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The Clements Prize for Composers is a biennial prize that aims to continue encouraging the composition of innovative, exciting chamber music and presenting it to a wide audience. The winner of the first prize will be awarded £1,500. The competition furthermore seeks to establish and nurture a community of diverse, young composers and to enhance the chamber repertoire. It will next open again in 2027.
BBC Radio 3 Carol Competition
BBC Radio 3 Carol Competition is an annual contest that challenges amateur composers to write a new, original melody for a specially selected festive poem or lyric. Open to musicians and aspiring songwriters of all ages, the competition culminates in live performances by the BBC Singers and a public vote for the winning carol.
BBC Young Composer
BBC Young Composer aims to discover, nurture and develop the next generation of young composers. Their programme inspires and champions young music makers aged 12-18 through a national competition held every other year. Winners participate in a tailored development programme working with a mentor composer on a project with the BBC Concert Orchestra, culminating in a performance or broadcast opportunity.
Matthew Elderton-Lewis Is an early-career composer who has been commissioned, performed, featured and workshopped by ensembles such as the Essex Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, Phacelia Ensemble, Riot Ensemble, Chroma Ensemble, Trilogy Ensemble, The Choir of Royal Holloway, and Ligeti Quartet
Receiving Second Prize for The Clements Prize for Composers 2025, he is determined to fight the ‘classical music’ stigma, offering a hand of reassurance to audiences who would otherwise be hesitant to discover new music.
Pianist Cordelia Williams discusses the the radical reclaiming of music’s rest and play.