The IMS serves the world community of musicologists. Many musicologists work in places that lack local institutions with the means to recognize their scholarship on a world stage. The IMS is uniquely positioned to balance such disparity. The IMS Centenary Fund was established in celebration of the centenary in 2027. It provides a series of prizes for emerging scholars that are distributed across the globe. Early-career scholars face extraordinary challenges—limited financial support, the struggle to have their voices heard, and the uncertainty of their future contributions. The IMS Centenary Prizes empower them to continue their work and thrive. Five prizes of CHF 1,000 each will be awarded every five years at the Quinquennial IMS Congress beginning with the congress in Stavanger in 2027. The IMS Bureau serves as the adjudicating committee.
Guidelines for the IMS Centenary Prizes
- The IMS Centenary Prizes are for outstanding contributions to the study of music by early-career scholars from any part of the world in any language. Such contributions include:
- Publications—such as monographs, articles, scholarly editions, texts for a general readership (e.g., blogs, podcasts), works in various media.
- Activities—such as leading collective projects, editing journals or series, publishing musicological works, organizing exhibitions or concerts with a musicological focus.
- Recipients of the prize must be IMS members.
- Early-career scholars are defined as those whose final degree was received less than ten years from the date of the application deadline and who are not currently enrolled in a doctoral program.
- Only one application is accepted per person, and only one item or unified project can be submitted in the application. Joint submissions are permitted.
- Self-nominations are accepted.
- Submissions must have been published or have taken place within the six years preceding the application deadline.
The call for applications will be announced early in 2027.