The 2026 annual AMS-South Central meeting featured several exceptional papers delivered by students in various stages of their graduate work in music studies. The program committee evaluated the presentations and selected two papers to receive the award this year.

The winners are:

Nderitu Kiragu (University of Georgia), “Scoring Black memory: Hall Johnson’s Spirituals and the Sonic Landscape of The Green Pastures“

Jonathan McIntyre (University of Kentucky), “Nietzsche as Composer, Philosopher, Antichrist: A Conceptual Art Song Analysis”

Thank you to the program committee, Dr. Jason Rosenholtz-Witt (chair), Dr. Alison Chu, and Dr. Naomi Graber, for their thoughtful deliberations.

Please join us in congratulating our award winners and all our student presenters!