These awards recognize significant contributions to the discipline of music theory.
Book Awards
The Wallace Berry Award is given for distinguished books by authors of any age or career stage.
The Emerging Scholar Award (Book) is given for books published no more than ten calendar years after the author's receipt of the Ph.D. (or, in the case of someone who does not hold a Ph.D., before the author reaches the age of forty).
Article Awards
The Outstanding Publication Award is given for distinguished articles or book chapters by authors of any age or career stage.
The Emerging Scholar Award (Article) is given for articles or book chapters published no more than seven calendar years after the author’s receipt of the Ph.D. (or, in the case of someone who does not hold a Ph.D., before the author reaches the age of forty).
Other Awards
A Citation of Special Merit is occasionally awarded for editions, translations, reference works, and other types of publications and resources ineligible for other awards.
The Outstanding Multi-Author Collection is given for distinguished multi-author collections.
The Pedagogy of Music Theory Award is given to exceptional pedagogical scholarship and resources.
The Public-Facing Scholarship Award is given to publications in all professional and popular media that advance the public’s knowledge and appreciation of music theory.
To recognize significant contributions to the discipline of music theory.
Eligibility extends to books and articles in English published between January 1, 2021, and December 31, 2023. Dissertations are ineligible. Self-published works, including websites, are eligible only for the Pedagogy of Music Theory Award, the Public-Facing Scholarship Award, and the Citation of Special Merit. Recipients may receive an award only once; however, previous recipients of the Outstanding Multi-Author Collection Award are eligible to win again if they are part of a different editorial team, including a co-editor who has not won the prize before. Multi-author collections are not eligible for the Citation of Special Merit Award.
The Publication Awards Committees strongly encourage nominations that reflect diversity.
These awards are administered by the Publication Awards Committees. Although each award can be presented in a given year, the Publication Awards Committees, at their discretion, may choose not to present a given award in a particular year.
Nomination Process
- To nominate a work for a Publication Award, you must be a member of SMT and logged into the SMT website.
- Self-nominations are welcome, limited to one publication per award.
- Nominators should provide their own names and e-mail addresses, as well as the complete bibliographic information for each nominated work.
- All members of the society are encouraged to use the nomination process to draw the Award Committees' attention to distinctive publications that are eligible for awards.
- PDF files of nominated articles would be appreciated.
For specific questions, please contact Jennifer Diaz.