# The American Prize

The American Prize is a set of annual nonprofit national competitions in the performing arts which recognizes and rewards commercial and noncommercial recorded performances of classical music in the United States based on submitted applications. There is no live competition. The award is bestowed at professional, college/university, community, and high school levels in a number of areas including composition, piano, voice, chamber music, conducting, and ensemble performance. The jury consists of well known performing artists in each area, with the conductor and composer David Katz serving as chief judge.
Artists and ensembles self-nominate through an application process or are nominated by a teacher, parent, board member or colleague. Evaluation is a key component of the competition; applicants who reach finalist status or higher receive a written evaluation from a member of the judging panel. Among judges are composer Judith Lang Zaimont, pianist Jeffrey Biegel, and Metropolitan Opera soprano Sharon Sweet. Winners of each category receive a cash award.

## Top prize winners

Winners of the first prize award by year in all professional categories.

### Composition

| | Orchestra | Choral | Chamber Music | Band | Opera / Theater / Film / Dance |
| 2011 | Jesse Ayers | Ted Vives | not awarded | not awarded | not awarded |
| 2012 | Michael Gatonska | Brian Holmes | not awarded | not awarded | not awarded |
| 2013 | Alessandra Salvati | Jonathan Santore | Michael Deak | Aleksander Sternfeld-Dunn | not awarded |
| 2014 | Gregg Wramage | Dominick DiOrio | Piotr Szewczyk | Laurence Bitensky | Todd Goodman |
| 2015 | Angelique Poteat | Travis Alford | tie: David Garner / Judith Lang Zaimont | David Avshalomov | Yiguo Yan |
| 2016 | Jennifer Bellor | Lansing McLoskey | Justin Dello Joio | Miguel Roig-Francolí | Justin Dello Joio |
| 2017 | Brian Ciach | (pending) | instrumental: Ching-chu Hu / choral: (pending) | Robert Denham | Jocelyn Hagen |
| 2019 | | Nilo Alcala | | | Eric W. Sawyer |
| 2019-20 | Tyler Goodrich White | major works: John Muehleisen / shorter works: Donald Skirvin | instrumental: Jakub Polaczyk / vocal: William Vollinger | Shawn Okpebholo | Zach Redler |

### Piano

| | Solo | Concerto |
| 2011 | Lin-Yu Wang | not awarded |
| 2012 | Nathanael May | Sarah S. Chan |
| 2013 | Petronel Malan | Anthony Michael Cornet |
| 2014 | Nassib Nassar | Kasandra Keeling |
| 2015 | Michael Angelucci | Bill John Newbrough |
| 2016 | Jeremy Samolesky | Thomas Yee |
| 2017 | Roberto Plano | Richard Bosworth |
| 2019-20 | Lei Weng | Anna Dmytrenko |

### Voice

| | Opera / Operetta (women) | Opera / Operetta (men) | Art Song / Oratorio (women) | Art Song / Oratorio (men) |
| 2011 | Laura Strickling | Jonathan Beyer | Christine Steyer | Blake Friedman |
| 2012 | Suzanne Vinnik | Christian Ketter | Sharin Apostolou | Matthew Garrett |
| 2013 | Suzanne Vinnik | Christian Ketter | Emily Marvosh | Darren Chase |
| 2014 | Megan Marino | Mitchell Hutchings | Sarah Davis | Leo Rado |
| 2015 | Aundi Marie Moore | Peter Lightfoot | Tania Coambs | Jorell Williams |
| 2016 | Samantha Britt | Keith Brown | Margaret Lias | Stephen Lancaster |
| 2017-18 | Meredith Mecum | Ryan Francis Burns | Kristina Bachrach | Justin John Moniz |
| 2018-19 | Jacqueline Piccolino | Logan Tanner | Emily Yocum Black | Justin John Moniz |
| 2019-20 | Madison Marie McIntosh | Leo Radosavljevic | Ann Cravero | Bryan Pinkall |

### Chamber music

| 2014 | Atlanta Chamber Players |
| 2015 | The New Consort |
| 2019-20 | Eason-Seregow Duo |

### Orchestral

| | Orchestral performance | Conducting |
| 2010 | Lancaster Festival Orchestra | Gary Sheldon, Lancaster Festival Orchestra |
| 2011 | Pensacola Symphony Orchestra | Christopher Zimmerman, Fairfax Symphony Orchestra |
| 2012 | National Philharmonic | Dirk Meyer, Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra |
| 2013 | not awarded | not awarded |
| 2014 | Park Avenue Chamber Symphony | not awarded |
| 2015 | Western Piedmont Symphony | Olivier Ochanine, Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra |
| 2016 | | |
| 2018 | Allentown Symphony Orchestra | |
| 2019 | Symphony Number One | David Bernard |
| 2019-20 | Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra | Markand Thakar |

### Choral

| | Choral performance |
| 2010 | Roomful of Teeth |
| 2011 | Washington Bach Consort |
| 2012 | not awarded |
| 2013 | not awarded |
| 2014 | not awarded |
| 2015 | Houston Chamber Choir |
| 2019-20 | co-winners: Dallas Chamber Choir / mirabai |

## College/university prize winners

Winners of the first prize award by year in college/university categories.

### Composition

| | Orchestra | Choral | Chamber Music | Band | Opera / Theater / Film / Dance |
| 2013 | Roberto Kalb | Joshua Fishbein | not awarded | not awarded | not awarded |
| 2014 | Texu Kim | Saunder Choi | Rodrigo Bussad | not awarded | not awarded |
| 2015 | Patrick O’Malley | Kyle Randall | Derek David | not awarded | not awarded |
| 2016 | Jihyun Kim | Matthew Recio | Lara Poe | Derek Jenkins | Georgi Dimitrov (student division) |
| 2017 | Antonio Juan Marcos | (pending) | instrumental: Olga Amelkina-Vera / choral: (pending) | Tyler Bouque | Michele Cheng |
| 2023 | (pending) | Frank Duarte | (pending) | (pending) | (pending) |

### Voice

| | Opera / Operetta (women) | Opera / Operetta (men) | Art Song / Oratorio (women) | Art Song / Oratorio (men) |
| 2015 | Sarah Bauer | Galeano Salas | Paulina Nastasha Yeung | not awarded |
| 2016 | Natalie Logan | Quinn Bernegger | Samantha Schmid | Quinn Bernegger |
| 2017 | tie: Sarah Cooper / Kellie Motter | Ben M. Reisinger | Lauren Elizabeth Walker | David John Davani |

### Orchestral

| | Orchestral performance | Conducting |
| 2010 | Texas Chamber Group Orchestra | Ricardo Averbach, Oxford Chamber Orchestra |
| 2011 | University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra | Kenneth Kiesler, University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra |
| 2012 | University of North Carolina Symphony Orchestra | Gemma New, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra |
| 2013 | not awarded | not awarded |
| 2014 | St. Olaf Orchestra | not awarded |
| 2015 | Baylor Symphony Orchestra | Boon Hua Lien, Eastman Philharmonia |

### Choral

| | Choral performance |
| 2010 | Washington & Jefferson College Camerata Singers |
| 2011 | Mansfield University Concert Choir |
| 2012 | East Carolina University Chamber Singers |
| 2013 | Iowa State Singers |
| 2014 | The University of North Dakota Concert Choir |
| 2015 | USC Thornton Chamber Singers |

## Community prize winners

Winners of the first prize award by year in community categories.

### Choral

| | Choral performance |
| 2010 | Choral Arts |
| 2011 | Pacific Lutheran University Choral Union |
| 2012 | Ensemble Companio |
| 2013 | Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble |
| 2014 | Choral Arts Initiative |
| 2015 | Peninsula Women's Chorus |