The RMA Practice Research Prize was established in 2023 to celebrate work for which practice is the significant method of research. It will be awarded annually by the RMA for an outstanding piece of work that demonstrates originality, significance and rigour in research*.

Award winners are invited to present their work at the RMA Annual Conference.

Eligibility: For the first year, the award is open to outputs with a publication date between 2018–2022. In subsequent years, this award will mirror the other RMA awards and seek outputs from the preceding one year.

Nomination process:

Nominations can be made by any member of the RMA, and self-nominations are encouraged. We strongly encourage nominations that reflect the full diversity of music studies.

Nominators should submit the work to the chair of the Awards Committee (Professor Catherine Tackley, ctackley@liverpool.ac.uk ) in electronic format; the research dimension and contribution to knowledge should be clearly articulated (this articulation may be either embodied in the work, or added in a short commentary). Submissions should be via digital link (please ensure the link is not locked or time-limited) may take any digital form (e.g. scores as PDF/image, audio/video recordings, commentary can be text or audio/video/ppt/web/etc). Nominations should be received by 1 May. The Awards Committee’s recommendation will be submitted to the following meeting of Council, and, if approved, the award will be announced at the Annual General Meeting, held each September during the RMA’s Annual Conference.

* Research is defined as a process of investigation leading to new insights, effectively share. This is in line with current Research England and Practice Research Advisory Group (PRAG-UK) definition). See also the Bulley/Şahin Report on Practice Research (2021): especially p.1 (PDF p.27), and pp.4+ (PDF p.30+) <https://bl.iro.bl.uk/downloads/b3afceff-c502-4c59-8855-6fc5889a41f4?locale=en>