Composition

NZCF runs two annual choral composition awards in conjunction with SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music.

Past winners and placegetters include Claire Cowan, Rosa Elliott, Tabea Squire, Sarah McCallum (Belkner), Fergus Byett and Selena Fisher.

NZCF-SOUNZ Choral Composition Competition

This competition was introduced by the New Zealand Choral Federation to mark the third millennium, with a trophy presented by NZCF Auckland Region.

The competition is run in conjunction with SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music and awards a prize for the best choral piece composed by a New Zealand secondary school student.

The winning entry receives a cash prize of $300 supported by SOUNZ.
SOUNZ and NZCF also work with the composer to facilitate a video recording of the winning composition to be shared online by both organisations in late 2026.

Adjudicator - Choral Composition Competition

Leonie Holmes Resized Leonie Holmes is a New Zealand composer, receiving frequent commissions from both professional and community groups in the fields of orchestral, chamber, choral, vocal and solo instrumental music. Recent works have been commissioned and/or performed by the NZSO, BBC singers, Kings Singers, Voices NZ Chamber Choir, and NZ Trio. Stemming from her work as Composer-in-Schools in the 1990s, she is also interested in music education and has written many works for school and community groups.

2026 Results

From 26 entries to the NZCF-SOUNZ Composition Competition, adjudicator Leonie Holmes chose Ada Zhang as the winner for her composition To Let the Lilies Blow.

This is the first time that one student has won both the Composition and the Te Reo Composition competitions in the same year.

On Ada’s piece To Let the Lilies Blow Leonie wrote: This is a very effective (and affecting) and sophisticated setting of these words. Of special note is the natural ebb and flow of the music through control of rhythm, and the text is just the right length to let you play around with this. The melody is expressive and memorable, and whilst the overall mood is reflective, there are some strong structural moments that lead us on a journey throughout.

To introduce her piece Ada wrote:
Set to Gerard Manley Hopkin’s poem “Heaven-Haven,” To Let the Lilies Blow" is a choral work that explores longing, surrender and stillness. The composition draws on the poem’s central image, a nun seeking peaceful refuge from the storms of life, shaping its musical language between unrest and release.

NZCF-SOUNZ Composition Competition Prize-winners

1^st Prize - Ada Zhang, Kristin School, Auckland – for To Let the Lilies Blow
2^nd=Prize - Benjamin Viljoen, Palmerston North Boys High School, for The Dandelion
2^nd= Prize - Joshua Wolff, Tawa College, Wellington for Luke 24:29
Highly commended - Hugh Anselmo Reid, Westlake Boys High School, Auckland for High Country Weather
Commended:
- Hannah Smith, Westlake Girls High School, Auckland for Into the Twilight
- Johnson Ding & Arlo Pryor, Wellington College for Calling
- Meredith Williams, Queen Margaret College, Wellington for And all the lives we ever lived
- Marcello Ferguson Christ's College, Christchurch for Sanctus

2025 Results

NZCF-SOUNZ Choral Composition Competition

1st Prize - Abilio Fernandes, St Patrick's College, Wellington - for 'Autumn Song'
2nd Prize - Sofia Gong, King's College, Auckland - for ‘Winter Stars'
3rd Prize - YuYang Ding, Westlake Boys High School, Auckland - for 'For Babel'

Very Highly Commended:

Benjamin Viljoen, Palmerston North Boys' High School - for 'Ek herhaal jou'
Leo Gore, Whitby Collegiate, Wellington - for 'Again and Again'

Highly Commended

Abi Mitchell, Westlake Girls High School, Auckland - for 'Windy Nights'
Larissa Chen, Westlake Girls High School, Auckland - for 'Sheep in Fog'

The adjudicator for 2025 was David N. Childs. Read about David here.

Big Sing Awards 30 Aug Pieter Du Plessis 59
_{Abilio Fernandes - winner of the 2025 NZCF-SOUNZ Choral Composition Competition}

SOUNZ-NZCF Te Reo Māori Choral Composition Award

This award, initiated by SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music, was introduced in 2021 and aims to encourage young composers to write choral settings of texts in te reo Māori. The winning composer will receive a trophy - a taonga, kindly donated by SOUNZ, in the form of a beautiful pūtōrino Te Pūoho Ki Te Rangi carved by taonga puoro player/composer and maker Tāmihana Kātene.

The winning entry receives a cash prize of $300 supported by SOUNZ. SOUNZ and NZCF also work with the composer to facilitate a video recording of the winning composition to be shared online by both organisations in late 2026.

Adjudicator - Te Reo Māori Choral Composition

Charles Royal 1 Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal is a researcher and teacher of indigenous knowledge (mātauranga Māori) and a composer (and performer) of music and story. He is a passionate advocate for ‘indigenous creativity’ and provides research and consultancy services to the public sector and to iwi organisations. He composes music and story for small and large groups and his iwi affiliations are Marutūahu, Ngāti Raukawa and Ngā Puhi.

From the six entries to the Te Reo Māori Choral Composition Competition, adjudicator Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal chose one winner - Ada Zhang, for her composition Te Hau, Te Ngākau.

On Ada’s piece Charles wrote:
I was impressed that Ada not only rose to the challenge of composing a piece of music, but also the challenge of composing a text in Te Reo Māori… The text is set well as the mood of the music suits its contemplative and momentarily venerative spirit.

To introduce her piece, Ada wrote:
Written as a choral work that explores the space between grief and witness, “Te Hau, Te Ngākau” follows a single dawn walk to a river, where its quiet images carry an unspoken sorrow: the deforestation of Aotearoa’s native bush.

Ada Zhang is Year 13 composer and musician at Kristin School. A passionate singer, she is an active member of the school’s premier upper voice choir, Euphony, under the direction of David Squire and Juan Kim. Her love for diverse musical ensembles has led her to serving as an accompanist for the junior school choir, an experience that has deepened her connection to chorale writing. As an instrumentalist, she has performed as a pianist at Carnegie Hall and collaborated as a cellist with the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra.
Ada’s compositional studies have been shaped by a wide range of instrumental textures and stylistic influences. However, she holds a special engagement with the voice, which she finds uniquely expressive and distinct from any instrumental ensemble. She strives to reflect this motivation through her composition, alongside lush, extended harmonies. Deeply devoted to both composition and chorale singing, she looks forward to pursuing music studies in the future.

2025 Results

SOUNZ-NZCF Te Reo Māori Choral Composition Award 2025 Results

1st Prize -Jesse Wallace, Tawa College, Wellington - for 'Tēnei Te Arā (Karakia Tawhito)'
2nd Prize -Purity Rimaha, Rotorua Girls' High School - for 'Nga Puāwai'

The adjudicator for 2025 was David Tapene. Read about David here.

Big Sing Awards 30 Aug Pieter Du Plessis 61
_{Jesse Wallace - winner of the SOUNZ-NZCF Te Reo Māori Choral Composition Award}