The SOCAN Foundation/MusCan Awards for Writings on Canadian Music are two $2500 prizes intended to encourage students’ research and writing on Canadian music topics and music professors’ mentorship of students in these endeavors. One prize will be for the best English-language paper and one for the best French-language paper. Topics in Canadian music will be understood as potentially deriving from a wide range of genres, including, but not limited to, such areas as concert, folk, jazz, and popular music.

Eligibility:  The competition is open to anyone who, at the time of submission of the paper, fulfils the following requirements:  (i) is registered in an undergraduate or graduate degree program (whether inside or outside Canada); (ii) is a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant to Canada; (iii) if a graduate student, is a member of MusCan (student membership will be $50 for 2023; undergraduate students who plan to submit to the competition are encouraged but not required to become members of MusCan); (iv) does not yet hold a doctorate and does not hold a full-time teaching position. For more information on Canadian University Music Society membership benefits, consult https://muscan.org.

Papers on Canadian music topics that have previously won the MusCan George Proctor Prize are not eligible to enter the SOCAN Foundation/MusCan Awards for Writings on Canadian Music. Any person who, while a graduate student, previously won an Award for Writings on Canadian Music will be ineligible to compete for another Award for Writings on Canadian Music but, potentially remains eligible to compete for the George Proctor Prize.  A paper chosen for an Award for Writings on Canadian Music in a given year may also be eligible for the George Proctor Prize in the same year. Please consult the Official Rules for the SOCAN Foundation/MusCan Awards for Writings on Canadian Music at https://muscan.org for further information.

A submission to the SOCAN Foundation / MusCan Awards for Writings on Canadian Music competition will be a written document that:

• presents, in a formal paper of scholarly tone, an account of original research that was carried out by the student;
• contains approximately 2500-3000 words;
• contains complete scholarly apparatus, including footnotes and a bibliography;
• excludes all mention of the author’s name and the author’s university/college affiliation (even from any cover page, first-page heading, or file name);
• is in PDF form (not more than 1 MB in size), preferably with examples and figures (if any) inserted into the running text of the document;
• is submitted via e-mail to the prize chair at pastpresident@muscan.org. The e-mail should include the author’s (i) full name, (ii) full postal address, (iii) name and level of degree program, (iv) institutional affiliation and (v) e-mail address.

Deadline for submissions:  May 5, 2023, 11:59 p.m.  

Please note that attendance at the MusCan Conference is not required for this award; however, graduate students who have already applied to the conference are welcome to submit their papers to this competition as well.

The jury to judge submissions will consist of four members of MusCan, chaired by a member of the MusCan Board. In 2023, Jon-Tomas Godin (Brandon University) will chair the jury. The other three members will be chosen so as to avoid conflict of interest and to represent as many different branches of music research as possible. The jury will consider the originality, methodology, theoretical framework, clarity of argument, structure, and writing style of the submissions.

Winners will be announced at the MusCan Annual General Meeting. The jury reserves the right to withhold an award if, in its judgment, there is no suitable submission.

Winning papers will be posted to the MusCan web site, www.muscan.org, in an electronic archive devoted to this purpose, and to the SOCAN Foundation web site. Acceptance of a paper for posting to the archive may require a winner to make small, recommended corrections to the paper by the necessary deadline, for posting as soon as possible, or no later than early autumn of the same year.

For more information, contact the chair of the prize committee, Jon-Tomas Godin, at pastpresident@muscan.org.

Funding for the SOCAN Foundation / MusCan Awards for Writings on Canadian Music is generously provided by the SOCAN Foundation.  Administration of the competition for the Awards is carried out by the Canadian University Music Society.