The Society for Music Theory awards recognition for significant contributions to music theory, analysis, or history of theory. Eligibility extends to books and articles in English, published between January 1 and December 31 for three years prior to the year of the award. Dissertations are ineligible.
- The Wallace Berry Award is given for a distinguished book by an author of any age or career stage.
- The Outstanding Publication Award is given for a distinguished article by an author of any age or career stage.
- The Emerging Scholar Award (Article) is given for an article published no more than seven calendar years after the author’s receipt of the Ph.D. (or, in the case of someone who does not hold a Ph.D., before the author reaches the age of forty).
- The Emerging Scholar Award (Book) is given for a book published no more than seven calendar years after the author’s receipt of the Ph.D. (or, in the case of someone who does not hold a Ph.D., before the author reaches the age of forty).
- The Outstanding Multi-Author Collection is given for a distinguished multi-author collection.
Citations of Special Merit are occasionally awarded for editions, translations, reference works, edited volumes, and other types of publications that are of extraordinary value to the discipline.
Although each award can be presented in a given year, the Publication Awards Committee, at its discretion, may choose not to present a given award in a particular year.
A list of past SMT award recipients may be found in the Archive section of this website.
Nominations
All members of the society are encouraged to draw the Award Committee's attention to distinctive publications that are eligible for awards. Nominators should provide their own names and email addresses, as well as the complete bibliographic information for each nominated work. PDF files of nominated articles would be appreciated. Self-nominations are welcome. If such information is available to the nominator, please include the author's address and indicate if the work is eligible for one of the Emerging Scholar Awards.
Nominations for the 2019 awards are now closed.