New York, NY, February 4, 2016:The ASCAP Foundation has announced the recipients of the2016 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards. The program was established in 2002 to encourage young gifted jazz composers. The recipients, who receive cash awards, range in age from 13 to 30, and are selected through a juried national competition.

Commenting on the awards,ASCAP Foundation President Paul Williams said, “We congratulate the recipients of our Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards. The incredible level of creativity and sophistication of the submitted works is a great sign for jazz. We commend our dedicated panel of ASCAP composers who selected the winners. We are honored to partner with the Herb Alpert Foundation in this significant ongoing endeavor.”

The 2016 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award recipients are listed with their age, current residence and place of origin:David Bernot,age 21 of Glendale, CO (Mesa, AZ);Paul Bloom,age 22 of New York, NY (Needham, MA);Mario Castro, age 27 of Brooklyn, NY (Humacao, Puerto Rico);Michael Conrad, age 27 of Greeley, CO (Arlington Heights, IL);Roxy Coss, age 29 of New York, NY (Seattle, WA);Natalie Dietz, age 29 of Boston, MA (Sydney, Australia);Lukas Gabric, age 28 of Brooklyn, NY (Villach, Austria);Joshua Green, age 28 of New York, NY (Philadelphia, PA);Dave Hassell, age 27 of Brooklyn, NY (Norwell, MA);Taylor Herron, age 24 of New York, NY (Fort Worth, TX);Gene Knific, age 23 of Chicago, IL (Kalamazoo, MI);Jodie Landau, age 23 of Sherman Oaks, CA (Los Angeles, CA) ;Remy Le Boeuf, age 29 of Brooklyn, NY (Santa Cruz, CA);Roos Plaatsman, age 28 of Long Island City, NY (Groningen, The Netherlands);Jonathan Saraga, age 28 of New York, NY;Jeremy Siskind, age 29 of Kalamazoo, MI (Santa Ana, CA); andChristopher Zuar, age 28 of New York, NY.

The youngest winners of The 2016 ASCAP Foundation Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards are listed with their age and state of residence:

Emily Bear,age14 of Illinois; andEsteban Castro, age 13 of Pennsylvania.

Composers receiving Honorable Mention this year are:Andrew D. Herring, age 19 of Winchester, VA (Harrisburg, PA);Andrew Karboski, age 21 of New York, NY (Seattle, WA);Josh Shpak, age 22 of Boston, MA (Walnut Creek, CA);Alexander Weitz, age 24 of Miami, FL (Tucson, AZ) andMatthew Whitaker, age 14 of New Jersey.

The ASCAP composer/judges for the 2016 competition were:Mark Feldman, Gregor Huebner, Oscar Perez,and Rufus Reid.

Additional funding for this program is provided by The ASCAP Foundation Bart Howard Fund.

About The Herb Alpert Foundation
The Herb Alpert Foundation, a non-profit, private foundation established in the early 1980s, makes significant annual contributions to a range of programs in the fields of Arts, Arts Education and Compassion and Well Being. Its funding is directed toward projects in which Herb and Lani Alpert and Foundation President Rona Sebastian play an active role. [The Foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals.]

About The ASCAP Foundation
Founded in 1975, The ASCAP Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to supporting American music creators and encouraging their development through music education, talent development and humanitarian programs. Included in these are songwriting workshops, grants, scholarships, awards, recognition and community outreach programs. The ASCAP Foundation is supported by contributions from ASCAP members and from music lovers throughout the United States.www.ascapfoundation.org

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Press Contacts:
Cathy Nevins
ASCAP
cnevins (at) ascap.com