[AMS-announce] ESSAY AWARD: Mannes Institute, Miles Levin Musical Essay Award

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The Mannes Institute proudly announces its third annual Miles Levin Musical Essay Award honoring an outstanding essay on the topic of Jazz Meets Pop, the theme of this year's Institute from June 15-18, 2008 hosted as a special event at Eastman School of Music. The winner will receive a cash prize of $250, and present the winning essay as a plenary speech before the distinguished members of the Institute. Where appropriate in light of other qualifications, the author may be invited to attend some or all of the Institute proceedings as well.

This prestigious award is given in memory of Miles Levin, an extraordinary young essayist whose life and work tragically were cut short. The essay, as spoken, should be approximately fifteen to twenty minutes in length, and may relate to jazz and/or pop music in any way. It may be reflective, historical, humorous, metaphorical, philosophical, theoretical, poetic, playful, ironic, critical, and/or personal, but must above all engage readers and listeners in a compelling, entertaining, thoughtful, intuitive, sensitive, and provocative manner. Please note that this award is not for a detailed scholarly or analytical article comparable to those appearing in a professional journal, or even a paper read at a formal academic conference. The tone is more in the nature of a keynote address. The style is creative nonfiction, with an emphasis on wit and imagination, charm and humor, insight and sincerity, sophistication and erudition, oratorical flair, and the belletristic quality of th
 e pro
se itself.

The essay may have intellectual and musical content, references, and allusions, but should contain no footnotes, no bibliography, and no analytic handouts or examples, other than perhaps a musical score. Doctoral students are ineligible. Submissions may be considered for publication in a forthcoming periodical entitled The Musical Essayist. Essays should be submitted electronically as pdf files or MS Word documents to mannesinstitute_at_aol.com. Decisions are rendered by committee. The submission deadline is March 1, 2008. For further information see the Institute's website at www.mannes.edu/mi or contact Wayne Alpern, Director, The Mannes Institute, mannesinstitute_at_aol.com, (212) 877-8350, 150 West 85th Street, New York, NY 10024 USA.