The Mizzou New Music Initiative has announced the winning composers in the 2025 Creating Original Music Project (COMP). Now in its 20th year, COMP is an annual statewide competition sponsored by the University of Missouri School of Music and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. COMP showcases new, original music from Missouri student composers and songwriters in grades K-12, offering positive recognition, prizes, performances, educational opportunities, and more.
For the competition, students in grades K-5 submit compositions in two categories: Instrumental Music and Songs with Words. For grades 6-8, the categories are Acoustic, Notated, and Produced; for grades 9-12, the categories are Notated, Acoustic, Produced, and Jazz. All entries must be original music written by the student; 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 are not accepted.
The winning composers and their schools are awarded cash prizes, and the winning compositions will be performed at the Creating Original Music Project’s New Music Festival on April 19 in the Sinquefield Music Center’s Sheryl Crow Hall at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Since COMP began in 2006, hundreds of pieces of music by K-12 Missouri composers have been performed. Lists of winners from previous years are available here.
Winners in high school are also eligible for scholarships to attend the Missouri Summer Composition Institute, which will take place June 22-28 on the Mizzou campus.
The 2025 Creating Original Music Project (COMP) competition categories and winners are:
Elementary Instrumental
1st
Sam Finkel, Piano Trio No. 1
Grant Elementary, Columbia
Sponsor: Elizabeth Tummons
2nd
Avery Francisco, The Dinosaur Forces Combined
East Elementary, Waynesville
Sponsor: Hannah Macarthy
3rd
Nicholas Mehta, Rainbow Rain
Andrews Academy, Lake Saint Louis
Sponsor: Maria Sarri
Honorable Mention
Kaitlyn Paik, Treble Rag Rock
Spoede Elementary, Saint Louis
Sponsor: Jessica Nutt
Elementary Songs with Words
1st
Samantha Schick, Call on Me
Ridgeway Elementary, Columbia
Sponsor: Abby Meeds
2nd
Alouisa Marcantonio, Hey, Sunshine!
Lillian Schumacher Elementary, Liberty
Sponsor: Anya Holland
3rd
Susannah Hooker, Tiny Things
Grant Elementary, Columbia
Sponsor: Elizabeth Tummons
Honorable Mention
Hadleigh Atterberry, Avery Barnhart, and Ella Blevins, Rainfall
Williamsburg Elementary, Williamsburg
Sponsor: Sherry Reetz
Middle School Acoustic
1st
Ada Clark, Someone to Lean On
Christ Community Lutheran School, Saint Louis
Sponsor: John Spangler
2nd
Lacie Reetz, Different Ways
North Callaway Middle School, Williamsburg
Sponsor: Brittany Carpenter
3rd (tie)
Elijah Gwyn, Perilous Journey
Northeast Middle School, Maryland Heights
Sponsor: Peggy Craig
Samantha Creasy, Jonah Meyer, Bennet Pieper, and Ryder Sexton, Step 17
Troy Schools, Moscow Mills
Sponsor: Robert Berzack
Middle School Notated
1st
Rowan Seidman, Piano Trio No. 1
Hixson Middle School, Webster Groves
Sponsor: Stephanie Grubb
2nd
Evan Hilbert, Dance of the Strings
Clinton County Middle School, Plattsburg
Sponsor: Aaron Guyer
3rd
Mary Anderson, Umori del Vento
Bingham Middle School, Independence
Sponsors: Sarah Hessenius & Dr. Melissa Koonce
Honorable Mention
Luke Vogel, Life, Death, and Love
Home schooled, Waynesville
Middle School Produced
1st
lan Lundholm, Pink Skies
Platte City Middle School, Platte City
Sponsor: Dr. Matt Bonsignore
2nd
Cohl McTyer, Exxtra Exxtra Drippy Sauce
Pattonville Heights Middle School, Maryland Heights
Sponsor: Carlye Feeney
High School Notated
1st
Andrew Kahler, Drei Kleine Stücke
Doniphan High School, Doniphan
Sponsor: Donald Falk
2nd
Moses Pavon, Humoresque
Parkview High School, Springfield
Sponsor: Kevin Grice
3rd
Mason Pieterick, Apparitions of an Oasis
Liberty North High School, Kearney
Sponsor: Alysse Trusty
Honorable Mention
Nathan Buckwalter, The Creative Process for clarinet quartet
Fulton High School, Fulton
Sponsor: Kelly Neudecker
Hannah Wolkowitz, Freylekh Soul for saxophone quartet
Parkway Central High School, Chesterfield
Sponsor: Doug Hoover
Adrian Sterk, The Adventure of a Lifetime for Orchestra
Lee’s Summit North High School, Lee’s Summit
Sponsor: Jonathan Krinke
High School Acoustic
1st
Maddie Huckabay, Break-Up Song
Francis Howell North, Saint Charles
Sponsor: Jennifer Oncken
2nd
Brendan Rieth, Pretty
Galena High School, Galena
Sponsor: Drew Tate
3rd
Paloma Greim, The Rock, Pacific
Saint Teresa’s Academy, Kansas City
Sponsor: Steve Perry
Honorable Mention
Rebecca Stanford, Happily Ever After
Mexico High School, Mexico
Sponsor: Julie Pappas
High School Produced
1st
Henry E. Lammers, Scenarios
David H. Hickman High School, Columbia
Sponsor: Timothy Hercules
2nd
Tony Campanella, Think of Me
Holt High School, Wentzville
Sponsor: Trevor Carter
3rd
Gerald Brown, Incessant Intolerability
Billings High School, Billings
Sponsor: Shannon Waldo
Honorable Mention
Olyssa Herico, Get the Girl
David H. Hickman High School, Columbia
Sponsor: Timothy Hercules
High School Jazz
1st
Evan Kenneth Mabary, Big Bandit
Marion C. Early High School, Willard
Sponsor: Dinah Hotz
2nd
Isaac Faust, Breeze from Brazil
Staley High School, Kansas City
Sponsor: Meara Mitchell