The Palouse Choral Society eagerly announces its composition contest as part of its goal to perform new music and champion the works of emerging composers. The Palouse Choral Society will premiere the winning composition in our Fall 2026 concert season: either in November or December.
Eligibility: All composers are eligible regardless of educational level or past experience.
Award: The winning composer will receive a $500 honorarium as well as 2 free tickets to the premiere performance.
Submission Details: Submit a PDF score via email to [artisticdirector] [at] [palousechoralsociety.org] .
Title your email as "PCS Composition Contest Submission."
The score should be engraved using music notation software (Finale, Sibelius, NoteFlight, etc.). Please include a sample recording (MIDI recordings are perfectly acceptable). Please do not include your name on the PDF score.
Deadline: Wednesday, June 17, 2026
Parameters:
Duration - The work should last 2 to 4 minutes in total. (Multimovement works which fit within these parameters are acceptable.)
Text - The text must be original or in the public domain. Liturgical texts are acceptable. If you use a copyrighted text, you must provide a letter of permission from the copyright owner. The piece may be in any language, but texts in languages aside from English, French, German, Italian, Latin, Spanish, or Ukrainian should include a pronunciation guide with IPA.
Voicing - SATB choir. Some divisi is acceptable, but please do not go beyond SSAATTBB. Short solos are acceptable, but do not feature a soloist for the entire work.
Instrumentation - A cappella or with piano. You may also include one obbligato instrument. If the work is a cappella, please include a piano reduction in the score.
Composition Date - The work must have been composed in the past five years.
Publication - The work must not yet be published.
Originality - The work must be an original composition, not an arrangement.
Performance History - The work must not have been performed publicly. The work will receive its world premiere in 2026 by the Palouse Choral Society.
Limits on Entries - Composers may submit up to two works per year.
Required: PDF score of work, sample recording of work.
Required (if applicable): Permission letter from text's copyright owner, pronunciation guide.
Evaluation: A panel of 2 guest judges and the PCS artistic director will review all submissions.
Winners will be announced by July 6, 2026. If no entries are suitable, the panel reserves the right not to select a winner. Second place and third place may be recognized, but only the winning composition will be performed.
Copyright: The Palouse Choral Society will retain unlimited performance and mechanical rights to performances and recordings made by the Palouse Choral Society. The composer will retain all other copy, performance, and mechanical rights to their works.