Applications Open for the Peter Tranchell Prize 2025

The winning composer will receive £500 and a London performance of their work, among other benefits

Applications for the Peter Tranchell Prize in composition are now open for 2025. The prize was first awarded in 2022 and invites composers to write a piece inspired by the late Peter Tranchell's work.

The competition has no restrictions on who can apply. Composers of any career stage, age, gender, nationality, religion, sexuality, politics or any other criteria are eligible.

The prizewinning work will be performed in a concert on Saturday April 18, 2026, alongside Tranchell's comic operetta Twice a Kiss, scored for seven singers, piano, and organ. The combination of the two keyboard instruments was common for Tranchell, also appearing in his Te Deum in E (among other works).

Composers should draw inspiration either specifically from Twice a Kiss (in a musical, literary, or theatrical sense) or from any other aspect of Tranchell's work more broadly.

The winner will receive a cash prize of £500, as well as the world premiere performance of their work in St. Paul's Church, Knightsbridge in London. In addition, they will be invited to sit on the panel for the competition in a subsequent year, and the winning piece will be published and promoted by the Peter Tranchell Foundation.

In 2025, the jury will comprise David Hill (Chair), Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Jonna Wikeley, last year's winner Will Harmer, and two of the performers in the concert: Tom Winpenny (organ) and David Doidge (piano).

Previous winners of the prize include Sarah Cattley for her work Five Portraits of Peter, and Dónal McCann for his work Cantemus in omni die.

You can find out more and apply here. Applications must be received by September 20, 2025.