Winner of Merrill Jones Composition Contest for 2010

Jack Hughes - Winner of  Merrill Jones Composition Contest for 2010

Merrill Jones Composition Contest Committee

Sponsored by Wingert-Jones and the University of Kansas

Jack Hughes Wins the 2010 NBA/Merrill Jones Young Band Composition Contest

Composer Jack Hughes was selected the 2010 winner of the NBA/Merrill Jones Young Band Composition Contest in December at the Midwest Clinic. The winning composition is After Rain. 2009-2010 Winner, Jack Hughes, 16, is a senior at McLean High School in Reston, Virginia near Washington, DC and is a Young Associate of the National Symphony Orchestra.  Jack participated in the Young Composers Program at the Cleveland Institute of Music in July 2007 and 2008 and in the New York Summer Music Festival's Composition Workshop in July 2009. During the school year he studies composition with Professor Mark Camphouse of George Mason University.

Jack has written for band, orchestra, and various chamber ensembles.  Every composition that he's submitted to competition has won recognition.  Among those awards are first place in the Arden and Harry Fisher Young Composers Competition in 2006 and 2009, and in the band and orchestra division of the Pike's Peak Young Composers Competition in 2007.  He has twice received Emerging Composer honors from the New York Art Ensemble and has been a finalist for the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards.

Jack plays principal trumpet in the McLean High School Symphonic Band that is a holder of the Sudler Flag of Honor, awarded by the John Philip Sousa Foundation to only 57 high schools over the past 25 years.  He performs in the American Youth Symphonic Orchestra and was a member of the 2009 Virginia All-State Band.  Jack also plays piano, violin, viola, and clarinet.

The NBA/ Merrill Jones Memorial Young Composer Band Composition Contest was established in 1991 as a memorial to Merrill Jones, co-owner of Wingert-Jones Music Company, by his widow, Priscilla Jones. Mr. Jones always was concerned about helping the young composer. NBA past president Robert (Bob) Foster suggested a young composer contest, which would promote works for young bands. The result was a contest for composers under 40 years of age to be held every other year, now in the odd numbered years, and which would produce works for concert band in the Grade III-IV category. Works must not exceed 8 minutes in length, must be the original work of the composer, and not be under contract to any publisher. Deadline for submission is November 1st. The contest is held every two years unless no winner is chosen. Wingert-Jones reserves the right of first refusal for publication. The current prize to the winner is $2000.

The winner is announced at the NBA General Membership Meeting at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago following a meeting of the contest committee. The contest committed is chaired by NBA member Dennis Zeisler.

Information for the 2012 contest can be obtained here.

Past Winners of the Merrill Jones Composition Contest

After Rain for Percussion Solo and Brass Quintet by Jack Hughes

Type of Piece: Percussion Solo with Brass Quintet (2009)

Instrumentation: Marimba, Vibraphone, Suspended Cymbal, Triangle, Rain Stick, 2 Trumpets, French Horn, Trombone, Tuba, Crystal Wine Glass

Grade: 5
Length: 6.5 minutes

First Prize in the 2009 Doug Wallace Percussion Composition Contest
Winner of the 2009-20010 Charles B. Olson Young Composers Contest

The winning work in the 2010-2011 Charles B. Olson Young Composers Contest is Keane Southard's Waltzing Dervish; the premiere will be on Friday, May 13, 2011 at Wayzata Community Church, Wayzata, MN.