The Church of the Blessed Sacrament Competition in Liturgical Composition seeks to foster new music for the Roman Rite. There are no nationality restrictions; applicants must be 18 years of age or older.

Submission Requirements

• The work may comprise any combination of vocal forces from a minimum of 2 independent parts up
  to a maximum of SSAATTBB or SATB double choir.
• Works must be 3 to 8 minutes long
• The work may use organ accompaniment, but no other instrumentation is permitted. If the work is
  unaccompanied, a keyboard reduction is required.
• The text to be set is at the composer’s discretion but must be a Catholic liturgical text taken from the
  Graduale Romanum, Graduale Simplex, Roman Missal, or other such approved volume, or from
  scripture. Please ensure that copyright permissions are provided for any text that falls outside the
  public domain.
• Solos are permitted in the work but should comprise no more than one-third of its final
  performance length.
• The work may be in English or Latin.
• The Cantorei of the Church of the Blessed Sacrament are an all-professional ensemble. The work
  may take full advantage of their abililty, but no weight is attached to complexity. Well-written music
  of simple construction will be prefered to highly complex music poorly written. Idiomaticity for the
  forces required will be heavily considered.
• The final score should be 8.5×11 inches, free of all errors, and as though a final submission for
  publication.
• All compositional techniques are allowable, but successful entries will draw inspiration from the
  history of the church’s classically modeled musical repertoire, with Gregorian chant and renaissance
  polyphony being of prime inspirational importance. With that said, this is expected to be a modern
  work and should not seek to directly imitate historical models.

Submission Details

Round One

• Full proposed text
• Up to three examples of previous works in contrasting styles. Scores required, recordings encouraged.
• The competition entry form

Round Two

• The fully composed work and any necessary copyright permission to use the text, if necessary.

Prizes

• First Prize
  • $4,000 cash prize
  • Inclusion on an album recorded by the Cantorei
  • The work will be programmed in the following liturgical year
  • The work will be published by Ars Nova Press
• Second Prize
  • $2,000 cash prize
  • Inclusion on an album recorded by the Cantorei
  • The work will be programmed in the following liturgical year
• Third Prize
  • $1,000 cash prize
  • Inclusion on an album recorded by the Cantorei
  • The work will be programmed in the following liturgical year
• Honorable Mentions
  • $200, the work will be programed in the following year, and the judges will
    provide a 30 minute virtual meeting to discuss the work

Recording Rights

To be recorded for publication through the Navona label of Parma Records. Blessed Sacrament reserves the right to the initial recording and monies therefrom generated.