Awards and Prizes

Marion Brown Prize

Composer, improviser, saxophonist/clarinetist, visual artist, and writer Marion Brown (1931–2010) was a Bowdoin graduate and served as an Assistant Professor of Music at Bowdoin from 1971 to 1974. His compositional language interwove avant-garde jazz techniques, folk-rooted melodies and rhythms, European modernist color, and a deep sense of cultural and personal history—creating a body of work that was both experimental and profoundly human.

Bowdoin College’s Marion Brown Prize seeks to continue this legacy by supporting an annual residency for composers at an early stage in their careers whose work shares this ethos of cultural and personal history, broadens the landscape of contemporary composition, and fosters a welcoming, varied musical community.

The 2027 Marion Brown Prize will be the commissioning of a 10-to-12-minute work for large wind ensemble and percussion.  Applications will be accepted from October 1 to November 30, 2026. 

Application requirements and other details will be available here soon.