Stuttgart Composition Prize: Call for entries reopened

Composers resident in Germany may submit a compositional work by 30 November 2026. The prize is open to all; there are no restrictions on genre or instrumentation.

 

The City of Stuttgart Composition Prize carries an annual award of 12,000 euros and may be awarded in up to two instalments per year.

 

The aim of the competition is to support artists and to help raise public awareness of them and of contemporary music.

 

A specialist jury decides on the award. In addition to the prize money, the award usually includes a performance of the winning works as part of the award ceremony, which takes place at the ECLAT Festival Neue Musik Stuttgart.

 

The expert jury will meet at the beginning of 2027 and, at this meeting, will decide on the 71st Composition Prize for 2027 and the 72nd Composition Prize for 2028.

 

The terms and conditions of entry and the application form are available at:

www.stuttgart.de

Mayor Dr Fabian Mayer on the re-launch of the competition

 

»I am delighted that, following in-depth consultations with all stakeholders, a sound approach has been found to enable us to continue awarding the composition prize annually. Budgetary consolidation naturally also has an impact on our cultural funding. However, in the case of this long-established composition prize, we have been able to preserve the award’s strong promotional character and its international appeal. It is an important signal that, even in times of tight budgets, we continue to support new, experimental forms of expression and the networking of the scene.«

 

The City of Stuttgart’s Composition Prize is Germany’s oldest prize for composers of contemporary music. The city has been awarding it since 1955. One of its distinctive features is that the award ceremony is combined with a performance of the winning works. Past winners have included Adriana Hölszky, Helmut Lachenmann, Younghi Pagh-Paan and Marc Andre.