25th Joan Guinjoan International Prize for Young Composers

Official call/opportunity page URL: https://www.esmuc.cat/en/actividades/prizes/joan-guinjoan-international-prize-for-young-composers/

Organizer: Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC).

Deadline: 1 December 2026.

Entry fee / cost: The official page reviewed does not state an application fee.

Eligibility: Open to composers of every nationality who are no older than 35 on 31 December 2026. Previous winners of the prize may not apply again. Each participant may submit up to two works.

Opportunity / work requirements: The work must be contemporary in style, 10-15 minutes long, and unpublished, unpremiered, and uncommissioned. Educational performances at conservatories or music schools are not treated as premieres unless they were broadcast or shared online. The work must use an open formation of 6-15 instruments, with optional electronics, selected from orchestral instruments, piano, accordion, guitar, voice, jazz instruments, cobla instruments, and listed early-music instruments. A small SATB choir may be included under the counting rules stated on the official page. The submission must use a pseudonym.

Support / prize / benefit: The net prize is €4,000. ESMUC will premiere the winning work and may record, edit, and disseminate it. The jury may also give honorary mentions, whose works will be premiered with the winning composition. The decision is scheduled before 9 January 2027.

Application method: Send a download link for one ZIP or RAR file by WeTransfer or a similar service to premi.guinjoan@esmuc.cat. The file must contain the registration form, identity document or passport copy, and full-score PDF, all named according to the pseudonym instructions.

Schedule / additional conditions: The winning work may not already have won a prize and may not share another prize within six months of this award. ESMUC receives the publishing and distribution rights described on the official page.