Dankworth Prizes for Jazz Composition

The Dankworth Prizes were established by Art Mead in 2007, and have been administered by the Musicians’ Company, generously sponsored by the Wavendon Foundation, since 2011.

There are two prizes for original jazz compositions:  £1000 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 take place in late 2024.

Winners
2008 James Hamilton (Leeds) Big Band; Nicky Jacques (Birmingham) Small Ensemble
2009 James Beckwith (Leeds) Big Band; Matt Roberts (Leeds) Small Ensemble
2010 Matt Roberts (Trinity) Big Band; Yuriy Galkin (RAM) Small Ensemble
2011 Laura Jurd (Trinity) Big Band; Alex Roth (RAM) Small Ensemble
2012 James Opstadt (RAM) Big Band. No competition for Small Ensemble Composition
2013 Daniel Thorne (WAusAPA) Big Band; Tom Green (Cambridge & RAM) Small Ensemble
2014 Misha Mullov-Abbado (RAM) Big Band; Andrew Woodhead (Birmingham) Small Ensemble
2015 Chris McMurran (Cambridge) Big Band; Ralph Wyld (RAM) Small Ensemble
2016 Matthew Read (GSMD) Big Band; Billy Marrows (RAM) Small Ensemble
2017 Jacky Naylor (Birmingham) Big Band; Matt Anderson (RAM) Small Ensemble
2018 Billy Marrows (RAM) Big Band; Luke Bainbridge (Birmingham) Small Ensemble
2019 Charles Bates (Birmingham) Big Band; Wilbur Whitta (RAM) Small Ensemble
2020 Eddie Lee (RAM) Big Band;  Alex Paxton (RAM) Small Ensemble
2021 Tom Niblock (Birmingham) Big Band; Andrew Chen (RCM) Small Ensemble
2022 Benedict Quinn (RAM) Big Band; Reuben Goldmark  (RAM) Small Ensemble
2023 Reuben Goldmark (RAM) Big Band, Lior Solomons-Wise (GSMD) Small Ensemble