The Dent Medal, struck in memory of the distinguished scholar, musician, and former IMS President Edward J. Dent (1876–1957), is awarded by the Royal Musical Association annually to recipients selected for their outstanding contribution to musicology. Each year the RMA’s awards committee, in consultation with specialists if necessary, considers nominations for the award from trustees of the RMA and from members of the IMS Directorium. The award holder is invited to receive her/his medal and to deliver a keynote address at the RMA’s annual conference in September of the year following the award.

Criteria

The Dent Medal is awarded to a scholar in mid-career who has made an outstanding contribution to musicology, as indicated by published scholarship. “Mid-career” is typically understood to mean within 15 to 20 years of completion of PhD or from first academic appointment. Nominators may like to consult the international database Doctoral Dissertations in Musicology (https://www.ams-net.org/ddm) as a quick guide, though these listings are not fully comprehensive. “Published scholarship” may be either a single large-scale study or a body of work.
Nominations may be made only by trustees of the RMA and by members of the IMS Directorium. Self-nominations are not permitted. Nominators should write to the chair of the awards committee, Elaine Kelly (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), supplying up to 1,200 words indicating the scholar’s career stage, identifying the single large-scale study or body of work that forms the basis for the nomination, explaining why it constitutes an outstanding contribution to musicology, and assessing the extent to which the nominee’s additional published work and activities have served to further enhance musicological scholarship, furnishing references to relevant biography (or a link to a webpage, encyclopedia article or other source where such information may appear).

The Dent Medal for 2020 has been awarded to Eric Drott: rma.ac.uk/2020/05/17/dent-medal-for-2020-awarded-to-eric-drott

Links

Former Dent Medal recipients
Doctoral Dissertations in Musicology