American Choral Directors Association

The mission of ACDA is to inspire excellence and nurture lifelong involvement in choral music for everyone through education, performance, composition and advocacy.

You are here: Home / About ACDA / Awards & Competitions / Brock Competition for Professional Composers

Brock Competition for Professional Composers

About the Competition

In an effort to further its mission to promote choral music and ensure its future, ACDA established the Raymond W. Brock Competition for Professional Composers. The Competition for Professional Composers is an outgrowth of the Raymond W. Brock Memorial Choral Commission. The objectives of the contest are three-fold:

  1. To acknowledge and reward outstanding composers in early, mid, or late career
  2. To encourage choral composition of the highest caliber
  3. To further promote composer activity at ACDA conferences

Composers do not need to be members of ACDA to apply, but applicants must be residents of the United States or U.S. Territories. There is no age limit for applicants. Composers must not be current students (undergraduate or graduate) at the time of the conference performance. Submitted works must not be published, but may have been previously performed or premiered. (Works published through a self-publishing platform will be accepted.) Composers may submit one work per competition year. All voicings and difficulty levels will be considered. Works may be unaccompanied or accompanied, and may include additional instrumentation. (Due to performance constraints, works with full orchestra or similar forces will likely not be viable.) Due to performance time constraints, works between three and eight minutes in length will receive priority consideration. Composers who have received the Brock commission in the past are not eligible to apply.

The winner of the composition contest will be awarded a $1,000 cash prize, a complimentary one-year ACDA membership if they are not already a member, $500 for travel and hotel accommodations for the next national ACDA conference, a complimentary conference registration, a complimentary table at the conference composers’ fair, and a performance of the winning work on the main stage by a choral ensemble selected by the conference committee. 

Submission Guidelines (closed)

  • Print and fill out the application form to be sent in with your submission. (Download here)
  • Mail or email your score with the composer name removed along with the text (with written permission from copyright holder, if applicable) and translation (if not English).
    • If mailing, send four copies of your score to American Choral Directors Association, RE: Brock Competition for Professional Composers, 545 Couch Dr, Oklahoma City, OK 73102
    • If emailing, send all application materials to .
  • Email an MP3 of a performance recording or an MP3 of the MIDI playback from Finale or Sibelius to . (Note: This is required, and the only format that will be accepted is MP3. Follow the final steps in Finale or Sibelius to export the audio playback as MP3 format.)
    • Label your MP3 with the following: Composer Last Name_Title.mp3

The 2020 competition is closed. The next one will be announced in 2022.

Competition Winners

YouTube playlist of premieres

2020 – I Am the Wind by Elaine Hagenberg
To be premiered at the 2021 ACDA National Conference.
Announcement of 2020 Award Winner
2018 – In the Middle by Dale Trumbore
     Performed by the Aeolians of Oakwood University at the 2019 ACDA National Conference.
Announcement of 2018 Award Winner