Compose Aotearoa! is a national initiative to stimulate the creation of new and diverse New Zealand music for choirs. Designed as an annual competition facilitated by Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand Trust – the national body managing our national choirs – Compose Aotearoa! is a rewarding pathway for young, as well as established, composers to produce new work. 2026 is our seventh competition.

For almost five decades our national choirs have benefitted from, and contributed to, the creation of new choral works in Aotearoa. With this competition we aim to encourage the development of choral writing in Aotearoa and provide a high-quality workshop opportunity for the winning pieces.

Category winners will have their pieces workshopped by a chamber choir made up of singers from Choirs Aotearoa on 21 November 2026 in Auckland (date subject to change), along with selected highly commended entries chosen at the discretion of the judging panel.

Winners and other composers who have had their pieces chosen for the workshop will be invited to attend and will be alerted as soon as possible after adjudication has taken in place. The cost and arrangements of travel & accommodation will be the sole responsibility of the composer.

We invite submissions for choral works suitable for performance by any one of our choirs, under one of the following four categories:

• Open category – prize $2,000
• Composers aged 25 years and under category – prize $2,000
• Waiata category with substantial Te Reo Māori content (70%-100%) – prize $2,000
• Pacific language category with substantial Pacific language* content (70%-100%) – prize $2,000

*Any language from across the Pacific regions of Melanesia, Micronesia or Polynesia will be accepted

An additional prize valued at $1,000 may be awarded to a category winner in form of travel, per diems and other costs associated with the invitation to join the national choirs as Composer in Residence for one calendar year.

This residence will provide the postholder with the opportunity to further their knowledge of the choral soundscape and may include the possibility of progressing their winning work or another composition for performance.

Category winners will be encouraged to engage with becoming SOUNZ Composers and APRA AMCOS Members. Guidance will be offered to help facilitate this.

Submissions are now open for the 2026 Compose Aotearoa! competition. The deadline for entries is 23:59 on Sunday 4 October 2026.