While the tools for writing music have evolved over time – from pen, paper and piano to computers, samples and synthesizers – young composers today still face the same challenge they’ve had for hundreds of years: getting their music heard.

That ‘s why the Mizzou New Music Initiative began the Creating Original Music Project (COMP).

Now in its 13th year, COMP is an annual statewide competition that showcases new, original music from Missouri student composers and songwriters in grades K-12, offering positive recognition and prizes, performance and educational opportunities, and more.

Sponsored by the University of Missouri School of Music and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation, COMP is now accepting entries for the 2018 competition.

Both the winning composers and their schools will be awarded cash prizes, and the winning compositions will be performed at the Creating Original Music Project’s New Music Festival on Saturday, April 21, 2018 at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Winners in high school also are eligible for scholarships to attend the week-long Missouri Summer Composition Institute, held in June on the Mizzou campus.

Students in grades K-5 may submit compositions in two categories, Songs With Words and Instrumental. For grades 6-8, the categories are Fine Art Music and Popular Music; and for grades 9-12, they are Fine Art Music, Popular Music, Jazz, and Other styles. All entries must be original music written by the student, and only one entry per student is allowed. Both notated pieces and music made electronically are eligible. Arrangements of previously composed pieces or improvisation based on composed pieces will not be accepted.

Mentors and teachers are encouraged to offer support and critiques, though submissions must be the students’ own original compositions. Music teachers and/or mentors may assist students in notating or recording the pieces, and each student who applies must have the signature and sponsorship of their school’s music teacher.

Only three submissions per category per school are allowed. It is the responsibility of the school music teacher(s) to decide which three pieces per category will be entered in the contest. All entries must be submitted by Sunday, January 14, 2018.

For more information about the Creating Original Music Project and an application for the 2018 competition, please visit the COMP website at https://music.missouri.edu/mnmi/comp.

For students looking for more guidance or feedback on their work, the Mizzou New Music Initiative also offers Composer Connection, a distance-learning program that gives aspiring composers a chance to talk with and receive instruction from a graduate student in composition at MU.

Students can e-mail works in progress, ask questions about composing, and receive suggestions and answers directly from the composer on call. The composer on call for the 2017-18 academic year is Douglas Osmun, who can be reached by email at composerconnection@missouri.edu.