The Albert H. Maggs Composition Award is a commission-based

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n classical composition award given in order to "encourage and assist composers who might otherwise abandon their efforts for want of means". The award was founded in 1966 by Albert H. Maggs, a

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-based professional bookmaker, amateur pianist and patron of the arts and medicine. He initially provided $10,000, and made later contributions to keep the award viable. The only qualification is that applicants must have resided in Australia for at least two years before the closing date for applications, in March. It is administered by the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

and is awarded annually in August. The winner agrees to submit their work within 18 months of the award being made. The current value of the award is $7,000 with another $3,000 as a performance subsidy.

List of winners

The following composers have been awarded the Albert H. Maggs Composition Award: * 1967

Nigel Butterley Nigel Henry Cockburn Butterley (13 May 1935 – 19 February 2022) was an Australian composer and pianist. Life and career Butterley was born in Sydney and learned to play the piano at the age of five. He attended Sydney Grammar School, but mus ...

* 1968

Larry Sitsky Lazar "Larry" Sitsky (born 10 September 1934) is an Australian composer, pianist, and music educator and scholar. Sitsky was the first Australian to be invited to the USSR on a cultural exchange visit, organised by the Australian Department ...

* 1969

Colin Brumby Colin James Brumby (18 June 1933 – 3 January 2018) was an Australian composer and conductor. Biography Brumby was born in Melbourne and educated at the Glen Iris State School, Spring Road Central School, and Melbourne Boys' High School. He s ...

* 1970

Keith Humble Leslie Keith Humble (1927–1995) was an Australian pianist, composer, and professor of music. Career Keith Humble was born 6 September 1927 in Geelong, Victoria. He began learning piano at age five, and later formed his own swing jazz band wh ...

* 1971 Raymond Hanson * 1972

George Dreyfus George Dreyfus AM (born 22 July 1928) is an Australian contemporary classical, film and television composer. Early life and orchestral career Dreyfus was born to a Jewish family in Elberfeld, Wuppertal, Germany. He was the younger of two sons ...

* 1973

Graham Hair Graham Barry Hair (born 1943) is an Australian composer, music scholar and retired academic. He was educated at the University of Melbourne, graduating with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1964 and a Master of Music degree three years later. He then ...

* 1974 Donald Hollier * 1975 Ann Carr-Boyd * 1975

George Tibbits George Tibbits (January 14, 1763 – July 19, 1849) was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives from New York. Life He was born in Warwick, Rhode Island on January 14, 1763. He pursued classical studie ...

* 1976 Eric Gross * 1977

Tristram Cary Tristram Ogilvie Cary, OAM (14 May 192524 April 2008), was a pioneering English-Australian composer. He was also active as a teacher and music critic. Career Cary was born in Oxford, England, and educated at the Dragon School in Oxford and W ...

* 1978

Barry Conyngham Barry Ernest Conyngham (born 27 August 1944) is an Australian composer and academic. He has over 70 published works and over 30 recordings featuring his compositions, and his works have been premiered or performed in Australia, Japan, North and ...

* 1979 Richard Hames * 1980

David Worrall David Richard Worrall (born 12 June 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Barrow, where he is a player-coach, as well as joint coach of Curzon Ashton Juniors Whites U13’s. He is a versatile, aggressi ...

* 1981

* 1982 Richard Mills * 1983

Božidar Kos ''Božidar ( Bulgarian, Macedonian, sr-cyr, Божидар, , sometimes transliterated as Bojidar, or Bozhidar) is a Slavic masculine given name. It means "divine gift", derived from the Slavic elements ''božĭjĭ'' ("divine") and ''darŭ'' ( ...

* 1984

Brenton Broadstock Brenton Thomas Broadstock (born 12 December 1952) is an Australian composer. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia on Australia Day in 2014 for "significant service to music as a composer, educator and mentor". Biography From 1 ...

* 1985

Andrew Schultz Andrew Schultz (born 18 August 1960 in Adelaide, South Australia) is an Australian classical composer. He has, since 2008, lived in Sydney, New South Wales. He studied at the Universities of Queensland and Pennsylvania and at King's College Lond ...

* 1986

Warren Burt Warren Burt (born 10 October 1949) is an Australia-based composer of American birth. He is known for composing in a wide variety of new music styles, ranging from acoustic music, electroacoustic music, sound art installations to text-based musi ...

* 1987 Chu Wang-Hua * 1988 Julian Yu * 1989 no award given * 1990

Mary Finsterer Mary Finsterer (born 25 August 1962) is an Australian composer and academic. Life Finsterer was born in Canberra in 1962. She graduated in 1987 with a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Melbourne. A recipient of the Royal Netherlan ...

* 1991 Stephen Cronin * 1992 Mark Pollard * 1993 Lesleigh Thompson * 1994

Gerard Brophy Gerard Louis Brophy (born 26 November 1975, Welkom, Orange Free State, South Africa) is a first-class cricketer, latterly contracted to Yorkshire. He has also played for Ireland, Free State, Northamptonshire and Transvaal in a well travelled c ...

* 1995 Thomas Reiner * 1996 Wilfred Lehmann * 1997 David Joseph * 1998 Christopher Willcock * 1999 Wilfred Lehmann * 2000

* 2001 Stuart Greenbaum * 2002 Lawrence Whiffin * 2005 John Peterson * 2006 Johanna Selleck * 2007

Mark Isaacs Mark Isaacs (born 22 June 1958, London) is an Australian classical and jazz composer and pianist. Isaacs has also composed and conducted music for film and television. Discography Filmography *''A Tale of Two Cities'' (1984) *''The Adventure ...

* 2008

* 2009 Kate Neal * 2010

Paul Stanhope Paul Stanhope is an Australian composer, conductor and music educator, known for his choral and instrumental music. Early life and education Stanhope was a student of Andrew Ford, Andrew Schultz and Peter Sculthorpe, and received the Charles ...

* 2011 Katy Abbott * 2012 Andrew Ford * 2013

* 2014 Tim Dargaville * 2015 Julian Yu * 2016 Peter Knight * 2017 Lachlan Skipworth * 2018

Natalie Williams Natalie Jean Williams (born November 30, 1970) is an American basketball executive and former player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Williams was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016. She was also an acc ...

* 2019 Wally Gunn * 2020

Nigel Westlake Nigel Westlake (born 6 September 1958) is an Australian composer, musician and conductor. As a composer for the screen, his film credits include the feature films ''Ali's Wedding'', ''Paper Planes'', ''Miss Potter'', ''Babe'', '' Babe: Pig in the ...

* 2021 Anne Cawrse * 2022 Connor D'Netto * 2023 Aristea Mellos

Sources

* {{cite web , title=Albert H. Maggs Composition Awards , url=https://library.unimelb.edu.au/music/collections/albert-h.-maggs-composition-awards , website=Louise Hanson-Dyer Music Library , publisher=University of Melbourne , language=en , access-date=1 June 2019 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601001213/https://library.unimelb.edu.au/music/collections/albert-h.-maggs-composition-awards , archive-date=1 June 2019 , url-status=dead
Australian Music Centre

University of Melbourne Statute: R7.127 The Albert H. Maggs Composition Award
Australian music awards Classical music awards 1967 establishments in Australia