We invite young composers, aged 16-25, to submit a new work to Friends of the Vox.

The competition aims to create a welcoming platform where young composers can experiment, gain valuable feedback and build confidence in their craft, while celebrating the creativity and diversity they can bring to choral music. Through this competition, we hope to inspire a new generation of composers to write for upper voices and to foster lasting connections between young artists, singers, conductors and established composers.

We are very grateful to Vox Anima London for donating the first prize which will provide the overall winner with a once in a lifetime opportunity to be tutored in person by some of the finest choral composers in the world.

The compositions will be adjudicated by James Meaders (Founder and Artistic Director, Vox Anima London), Richard Hammond-Hall (Pianist and Director of Community Engagement, Vox Anima London), and a guest composer (to be announced). The winners will receive individual feedback from the adjudicators. All three prize winners will have their winning entries performed live by Vox Anima Chamber Choir in a choral workshop on Saturday 17 April. The prizes available for the top 3 scores include a free place on Vox Anima London’s Choral Composition Intensive in July 2027, a free 60-minute online coaching session with Dr James M. Meaders, and £100 cash.

For further details and submission information, please see below.

1. The competition is open to composers between the ages of 16 and 25.

2. Deadline for submissions Friday 12 February 2027.

3. Entrants should submit an original composition, scored for treble voices, either unison, SA, SSA, or SSAA. Arrangements are not eligible.

4. The work may be accompanied (piano) or unaccompanied.

5. The work should be between one and three minutes in length based on the metronome marking given at the head of the composition.

6. Composers should set one of the following texts:

   The Call - George Herbert

   A Birthday - Christina Rossetti

   Redbirds - Sara Teasdale

   Ubi caritas - attributed to Paulinus II of Aquileia

7. Scores may be handwritten or computer-set but must be suitable for performance without further typesetting. Scores should be submitted in PDF format. Recordings will not be considered by the adjudicators - please do not submit these with your composition.

8. Entries must not bear the name of the composer; instead, composers should assign a random three-word code, for example, “CatTreeDog” to their work. The submission form and email address will be monitored by an external administrator; only the scores will be seen by members of the panel when adjudicating.

9. Only one application per composer will be considered.

Submissions are made through the link on this website. Please complete the form AND submit your composition as a PDF via email to info@friendsofthevox.org.

All data will be collated and anonymised in order that the adjudicators do not see your name or email address.

The deadline for submissions is midnight on Friday 12 February 2027.

All three prize winners will have their winning entries performed live by the Vox Anima Chamber Choir in a choral workshop on Saturday 17 April 2027. All three prize winners will receive input during the day from the guest composer, the choir’s conductor, Dr James Meaders, and the singers of the Vox Anima Chamber Choir.

First - A free place on Vox Anima London’s Choral Composition Intensive in July 2027 with Lead Tutor, Professor Paul Mealor LVO CStJ FRSE, and Guest Tutors: Sir Karl Jenkins CBE, Cecilia McDowell, Blake Morgan and Andrew Nethsingha. 

Second - A free 60-minute online coaching session with Dr James M. Meaders, which will include refining the second-prize composition and professional advice on building relationships with publishers, conductors and choirs. 

Third - £100 cash prize

1. The work must be original and the entry form signed with the written guarantee that it is solely the work of the composer.

2. The work must not have had a public performance, nor a recording that is publicly available (whether commercial or not), nor a broadcast of any sort. The work may not have been published or self-published.

3. The compositions will be judged by James Meaders (Founder and Artistic Director, Vox Anima London), Richard Hammond-Hall (Director of Community Engagement), and a guest composer to be announced.

4. The winners will be notified on 1 March 2027.

5. The adjudicators reserve the right to withhold prizes. In all matters relating to the competition the decision of the adjudicators is final.

6. Personal details on the entry form will be processed according to the Data Protection Act 2018.

7. The winning entrants are expected to take part in our composers’ workshop on Saturday 17 April 2027, post-competition publicity, and to agree to their names being made publicly known.

The Call – George Herbert

Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:

Such a Way, as gives us breath:

Such a Truth, as ends all strife:

Such a Life, as killeth death.

Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength:

Such a Light as shows a feast:

Such a Feast, as mends in length:

Such a Strength, as makes his guest.

Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:

Such a Joy, as none can move:

Such a Love, as none can part:

Such a Heart, as joyes in love.

A Birthday – Christina Rossetti

My heart is like a singing bird

                  Whose nest is in a water'd shoot;

My heart is like an apple-tree

                  Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit;

My heart is like a rainbow shell

                  That paddles in a halcyon sea;

My heart is gladder than all these

                  Because my love is come to me.

Raise me a dais of silk and down;

                  Hang it with vair and purple dyes;

Carve it in doves and pomegranates,

                  And peacocks with a hundred eyes;

Work it in gold and silver grapes,

                  In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys;

Because the birthday of my life

                  Is come, my love is come to me.

Redbirds – Sara Teasdale

Redbirds, redbirds,

Long and long ago,

What a honey-call you had

In hills I used to know;

Redbud, buckberry,

Wild plum-tree

And proud river sweeping

Southward to the sea,

Brown and gold in the sun

Sparkling far below,

Trailing stately round her bluffs

Where the poplars grow—

Redbirds, redbirds,

Are you singing still

As you sang one May day

On Saxton's Hill?

Ubi caritas - attributed to Paulinus II of Aquileia

Ubi cáritas et amor, Deus ibi est.

Congregávit nos in unum Christi amor.

Exsultémus et in ipso iucundémur.

Timeámus et amémus Deum vivum.

Et ex corde diligámus nos sincéro.

Ubi cáritas et amor, Deus ibi est.

Simul ergo cum in unum congregámur:

Ne nos mente dividámur, caveámus.

Cessent iúrgia malígna, cessent lites.

Et in médio nostri sit Christus Deus.

Ubi cáritas et amor, Deus ibi est.

Simul quoque cum beátis videámus

Gloriánter vultum tuum, Christe Deus:

Gáudium, quod est imménsum atque probum.

Sæcula per infiníta sæculórum. Amen.