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John Ness Beck
established the John Ness Beck Foundation in 1987, only a few
months before he passed away from cancer. The Foundation was
established in memory of Randall Thompson and Joseph Clokey and
is tax exempt. It recognizes outstanding achievement in choral
composition and arrangement of traditional church music,
enhances and furthers the careers, study, education and
experience of promising composers and arrangers, and promotes
and stimulates the learning of choral composition and
traditional church music.
John Beck's desire was simple:
to encourage and promote the writing of traditional sacred
music. The Foundation has sought to honor this goal in several
ways. For several years, scholarships were awarded to students
from the Westminster Choir College and the Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary who exhibited promise in the writing of
sacred choral music. At present, the Foundation has embarked on
a program which recognizes current composers of traditional
sacred choral music by selecting two compositions yearly which
best exemplify the type of writing that fit the criteria set
forth by John Beck. Compositions are nominated by a panel of
seven judges comprised of composers, music store retailers and
university music instructors, each panelist suggesting one to
five compositions for consideration. (No composer May nominate
or vote on their own composition.) The first place award
is $5,000.00 and the second place recipient receives $3,000.00. |
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