Psalm Chant Competition 2025
PRISM's Board of Directors is thrilled to announce the International Psalm Chant Composition Competition for 2025. This follows the high interest in our inaugural psalm chant competition in 2024.
This art form is alive and well!
Read about this year's Adjudicatory Panel.
The competition is open to all ages, to established and novice composers alike. For composers under 18 years of age, your entry must be submitted on your behalf by a parent, mentor, or guardian with appropriate acknowledgement.
The competition closes at midnight Friday 28 February 2025 GMT and winners will be announced on Monday 31 March 2025.
Meet the Adjudicator Panel
Katherine Dienes-Williams - NZ/UK
Chair of the Royal College of Organists Director of Music at Guildford Cathedral, UK
Katherine Dienes-Williams, MA, BMus, LTCL, FRCO, Hon ARSCM, Hon GCM, was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers at Guildford Cathedral in January 2008 following six years as Director of Music at the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick. She was the first-ever female member to be elected to the Cathedral Organists' Association in May 2022, and on her appointment to Guildford, became the first ever woman to hold such a post in the Church of England. Katherine was born and educated in Wellington, New Zealand and studied for a BA in Modern Languages and a BMus at Victoria University, Wellington. Katherine was Organ Scholar at Wellington Cathedral of St Paul from 1988 to 1991 when she was appointed Assistant Organist there. Katherine travelled to England in 1991 to take up the post of Organ Scholar at Winchester Cathedral and Assistant Organist at Winchester College. She has also held posts as Organist and Assistant Director of Music at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool, Assistant Organist and Director of the Cathedral Girls’ Choir at Norwich Cathedral prior to moving to Warwick as Director of Music at the Collegiate Church of St. Mary. She is Chair of the Royal College of Organists and a trustee of both the Organists Charitable trust and YOST (Young Organ Scholars Trust) and is regularly asked to be a guest choral workshop leader for the Royal School of Church Music in the UK, South Africa, the USA, Canada, and Australia. Katherine is also a Patron of the Society of Women Organists. She has given several organ recitals in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Germany, U.S.A., Bermuda, the Netherlands, South Africa, Australia, Spain, and Singapore. She has performed as organ soloist with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé, the City of London Sinfonia, Southern Pro Musica, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. She is also active as a composer, having received several commissions both in the UK, the USA, and New Zealand. Katherine holds a Master of Arts in Music and Liturgy from Leeds University. She features both as organist and choral conductor on several recordings. She is in demand as a choral workshop leader in the UK, the USA, and several other European countries. In both summer 2019 and 2022 she directed the St. Thomas’ girl choristers’ course in New York. She co-directed a Rodolfus Foundation junior choral course in summer 2023.
Sarah MacDonald - Canada/UK
Director of Music at Selwyn College, Cambridge; Director of Ely Cathedral’s Girl Choristers; President of the Royal College of Organists
Sarah MacDonald is a Canadian-born, UK-resident conductor, organist, pianist, and composer. She is Director of Music at Selwyn College, Cambridge, and Director of Ely Cathedral’s Girl Choristers. Sarah has been at Selwyn since 1999 and was the first woman to hold such a post in an Oxbridge Chapel. She is also Organist to the University of Cambridge, the first woman to hold that historic office. She studied at the University of Cambridge and the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, and her teachers include Marek Jablonski, Leon Fleisher, John Tuttle, and David Sanger. Sarah has made over commercial 35 recordings; her first solo disc, a recording of the Goldberg Variations on the Steinway-D at Ely Cathedral, was released in 2024. Sarah performs internationally every year and is in demand as a conductor, organist, and examiner. She has over 60 published works for choir and/or organ and has written a popular book about the British choral tradition, a compilation of her column for the American Organist magazine ‘UK Report’, which she has contributed monthly since 2009. Sarah is currently serving as President of the Royal College of Organists. In her spare time, she is a keen amateur photographer.
Stephanie Martin - Canada
Associate Professor of Music at York University
Canadian composer and conductor Stephanie Martin is associate professor of music at York University’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance, and Design. She directs Schola Magdalena, a women’s ensemble for chant, medieval and modern music. She is conductor emeritus of Pax Christi Chorale, and past director of music at the historic church of Saint Mary Magdalene in Toronto. An accomplished composer of works for both voices and instruments, Martin’s awards include the York University AMPD research award (2019), the Exultate Chamber Singers’ competition (2009), and the Association of Anglican Musicians competition (2010). She became an associate of the Canadian Music Centre in 2011 and was composer in residence for the Barrie Music Festival (2012). She accompanied Mosaic choir as resident composer on their tour to Israel (2019). Producing in the booth, or performing for the mics, Stephanie has recorded with many ensembles on the Naxos, Marquis and Dorian labels, as well as several self-produced recordings on her ‘SJM’ label. Her love of historically informed performance was fostered over 15 years of activity with Arbor Oak Trio, who performed hundreds of chamber music concerts and several fully staged dramatic works, including Arne’s rarely heard Love in a Village, Locke’s Cupid and Death and Gay’s Beggar’s Opera. Martin holds degrees from the University of Toronto, Wilfrid Laurier University, and is an Associate of the Royal Canadian College of Organists. In York University’s School of Arts, Media, Performance and Design she teaches music history, composition, harpsichord and organ, and coaches historical ensembles.
Dr June Nixon - Australia
Organist Emerita, St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne; Member of the Order of Australia
One of Australia’s best-known organists, choir trainers and composers, June Nixon initially obtained Diploma of Music (Piano) and Bachelor of Music (Organ) from Melbourne University. Post graduate Scholarships enabled further study in London where she gained F.R.C.O. and became the first woman to receive the John Brooke prize for the Choir Training Diploma. In 1968 she was the winner of the Australian National Organ Competition. She was appointed Organist and Director of Music at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne in 1973 and only relinquished this after 40 years on 3 February 2013 and has been made Organist Emerita. She is on the teaching staff of Melbourne University Faculty of Music. She has given numerous recitals at the Cathedral and at the Melbourne Town Hall, and given other recitals in London, the most recent at Westminster Abbey. Her influence outside the Anglican Church was recognized in 1995 by the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne awarding her the Percy Jones Award for “outstanding dedication and service given to music for worship”.
Dr Maxine Thévenot - USA
Director of Music & Organist at the Episcopal Cathedral of St John, Albuquerque
Award-winning Canadian-American musician Maxine Thévenot is known for her skillful, musical playing, inventive concert programming, and passionate, informed conducting. She combines a profound commitment to her liturgical work as a cathedral musician with guest conducting, solo and collaborative organ recitals, and thrives on co-creating community experiences. Her musical career has taken her throughout Great Britain and North America and to significant European venues in Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, and Italy. First-prize winner of the 2000 Canada Bach National Organ Competition, Maxine has also broadcast for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, National Public Radio, and Pipedreams. Dr. Thévenot has been a featured performer and lecturer at national and regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the Royal Canadian College of Organists. She serves as a competition jury member and examiner for the American Guild of Organists and serves on the editorial board of the Association of Anglican Musicians. Canon Maxine Thévenot serves as Director of Cathedral Music & Organist at the Episcopal Cathedral of St John, Albuquerque, NM. She is also the Artistic Director of an extensive community outreach ministry, Friends of Cathedral Music. Recognized for her excellence as a recording artist, Maxine has released 17 recordings on the Raven CD label. A highly sought-after and regarded choral conductor, chorus master, and guest clinician, she is the Founding and Artistic Director of Polyphony: Voices of New Mexico, the state’s first professional resident vocal ensemble. Dr Thévenot has taught in the Department of Music at the University of New Mexico since 2006. Currently, she teaches pipe organ repertoire, however, in the past she taught music theory and music history, and for 15 years was Director of the UNM Women’s Chorus, Las Cantantes. A native of Saskatchewan, Canada, Maxine Thévenot received her Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of Saskatchewan (with Distinction) and her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the Manhattan School of Music. She was twice awarded the Bronson Ragan Award at the Manhattan School of Music for ‘outstanding ability in organ performance.’ Maxine is an Associate of the Royal Canadian College of Organists and the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, and was made an Honorary Fellow of the National College of Music, London, UK in 2006 for her “services to music.”
