A new competition for UK composers aged under thirty on 31 January 2024 has been announced by Laudemus!, an adult SATB choir and charity which meets annually to sing Choral Evensong in churches throughout Dorset.

The Trustees of Laudemus! are seeking submissions of an anthem between 2½ and 4 minutes in length, with a text of a religious nature, scored for competent SATB choir with organ accompaniment. A single prize of £1,000 will be awarded, plus performance by Laudemus! during August 2024. Publication is offered by the Royal School of Church Music, subject to approval of the winning work.

The four-person adjudicating panel will comprise Tim Ruffer (RSCM Head of Publications), Barry Rose (former director of music at Guildford, St Paul’s and St Albans cathedrals), Jeremy Jackman (composer, conductor and musical director of Laudemus), and Sam Hanson (Director of Music, St Peter, Hammersmith and organist for Laudemus).

Conductor Ralph Allwood MBE, founder of the Eton Choral Courses and now Artistic Director of the Rodolfus Foundation, has long been a champion of Choral Evensong: ‘This new competition will help enormously in the efforts to get people to take sacred music seriously, and particularly music for the wonderful service known as Choral Evensong. Evensong is an astonishingly valuable asset with thousands of people involved in its production, day after day, and I wholeheartedly support this endeavour by Laudemus! to raise its profile.’

For more information, including a link to the full terms and conditions, click HERE