Announcement August 2025: 2026 Competition now Live! Visit Division Pages for More details

Annual Awards Competition

Since 1875, the Musicians Club of Women (MCW) has been proud to support the professional aspirations of young women musicians in the Midwest. We continue this tradition through our annual merit-based competition, awarding over $50,000 annually for the professional development and advancement of talented young musicians. We strive for ever higher standards of fairness, inclusion, and artistry by re-examining our competition’s eligibility and category delineations regularly, and as such we are pleased to announce the following information about this coming year’s competition.

The 2026 Competition will launch in the Fall of 2025. First round is virtual for instrumental and vocal divisions. Instrumental Finals March 7th and Vocal Finals March 14th, 2026.

Awards Competition Information

The Musicians Club of Women Awards Competition invites women-identifying musicians living or studying in Illinois (IL), Indiana (IN), Michigan (MI), Wisconsin (WI), Minnesota (MN), and/or Iowa (IA) to apply.

Click on any of the boxes below for specific information about the awards and repertoire requirements for each competition. Read all sections before applying.