2023 Scholarship winners, trombonist Richard LaRouech and saxophonist Joseph Foglia, playing with bassist Mary Ann McSweeney and drummer Ron Vincent at the NJ Jazz Society's Jersey Jazz LIVE! concert last November in Madison, NJ. Photo by Mitchell Seidel

The deadline is March 29 for the New Jersey Jazz Society's 2024 Juried Scholarship Competition. The competition is open to all New Jersey college students currently enrolled in a college undergraduate music program and to New Jersey residents currently enrolled in an out-of-state college undergraduate program. For the latter, proof of residency is required. There are four awards: $1,000 for Jazz Performance; $1,000 for Original Composition; $500 for Jazz Performance; and $500 for Original Composition. 

Along with the cash award, winners will receive guidance, mentorship, the opportunity to perform with an industry professional, and coverage in Jersey Jazz Magazine. For more details, applicants can click here.

Judges will be: Don Braden, tenor saxophonist/flutist, composer and educator; Ted Chubb, trumpeter and Vice President Education and Associate Producer at Jazz House Kids; Jason Olaine, Vice President of Programming at Jazz at Lincoln Center; and Mariel Bildsten, trombonist/bandleader and educator. Winners will be announced in early May and will be profiled in the June issue of Jersey Jazz.

Last year's winners were: ($1,000 prize for Performance) Trombonist Richard LaRouech, Buffalo, NY, William Paterson; ($1,000 prize for Composition) Trumpeter Banks Sapnar, Haddonfield, NJ, Temple; ($500 prize for Performance) Saxophonist Joseph Foglia, Raleigh, NC, William Paterson; and ($500 prize for Composition) Trumpeter Grace Fox, Marlton, NJ, Manhattan School of Music.

The New Jersey Jazz Society (NJJS) is a non-profit organization of business and professional people, musicians, teachers, students and listeners working together for the purpose of advancing jazz music. The competition is generously supported by Nan Hughes Poole and Cynthia Feketie.