Undergraduate Student Prizes and Awards

Carolyn Applebaum Endowed Prize - JACKIE GUY

The Carolyn Applebaum Endowed Prize (established in 2017) is made possible by a donation from composer Mark Applebaum (MA ’92, Ph.D. ’96) and his wife Joan Friedman in memory of Mark’s sister. The prize is an annual monetary award that recognizes students who, through an adopted sense of enterprise and responsibility, endeavor to make the campus music community robust and engaging for their classmates. Graduate Music students beyond their first year, as well as undergraduate sophomore, junior, and senior Music majors and Music minors are eligible. The award celebrates students who have made a meaningful impact on the arts in student life and is independent of personal scholarly success or creative distinction. Tremendous creative capacity and artistic agency are not requirements, but making the campus an environment for increased creative capacity and artistic agency are. The prize is not an award for personal achievement in music. It is an award for improving the campus environment in which music is made and experienced. The prize aspires to consider the broadest range of musical life. This includes music-making both within and beyond the University’s Music curriculum. It includes interests of the faculty and those beyond. It includes artistic performance and invention, but it may also include musical scholarship, analysis, theory, and appreciation, both within and beyond the activities of the Department of Music. An award need only be given in a year for which there is an appropriate candidate. In exceptional circumstances, multiple awards may be given in a single year if multiple students are appropriately distinguished. 

The Cheatham Prize - ZEJU ZHENG

In honor of the late James “Jimmy” Cheatham, in recognition for his many dedicated years directing the jazz program and jazz ensembles at UC San Diego, the faculty established the Cheatham Prize in 2004. Each year, the music faculty and the undergraduate committee selects the most outstanding undergraduate music major pursuing the jazz concentration. Criteria for the award includes excellence in musicianship (including the disciplines of performance, theory, or composition), success in academic studies, and department service.

The Erickson Prize - SHERRY ZHENG

The late Professor Robert Erickson was fascinated by musical timbre. His research led him to travels in Bali and a career of experimentation and composition with new sound sources. We honor his vision with The Erickson Prize for excellence in research.

The Farrell Prize - SHERRY ZHENG

The faculty established the Farrell Prize in honor of cellist Peter Farrell who retired in June 1991 after many years of dedicated teaching undergraduate music theory. The music faculty and undergraduate committee selects the most outstanding undergraduate Music Major to graduate each year. Although awarded at the end of spring quarter, students graduating at the end of fall and winter quarters may also be candidates. Excellence in musicianship, scholarship and department service will be the criteria for the award.

The Nee Prize - MATTHEW LEVEQUE

The late conductor Thomas Nee, who officially retired in June 1991 from full-time teaching responsibilities, continued to conduct a number of the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus concerts. This orchestra is comprised of campus and community musicians, and under Professor Nee's past leadership it has consistently programmed new works along with traditional repertoire. In honor of Professor Nee, the Nee Prize is awarded each year in the spring quarter to the student, graduate or undergraduate, who makes the most outstanding contribution to the orchestra's season. The recipient is chosen by Professor Steven Schick, conductor of the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus. The award, which is accompanied by a cash prize, is presented at the final department seminar of the year.

The Dr. Milton H. Saier, Sr. Memorial Award - JOSEPH GARCIA

The Dr. Milton H. Saier, Sr. Memorial Awards Fund was established at UC San Diego in 1998 to support an annual awards program for the Departments of Music, Theatre and Dance, Literature, and Biology. Each year, the Department of Music is given funds by the Saier family for an award to acknowledge “outstanding classical music performance by an undergraduate student.” 

The Bertram Turetzky Award - SHERRY ZHENG

Established in 2004 in honor of Professor Emeritus and bassist Bertram Turetzky, the Turetzky Award recognizes the exceptional departmental, campus-wide and community musical participation and outreach by an outstanding undergraduate performer. 

The Jazz Society Award - MASON DAVIS

The Jazz Society of Lower Southern California, with the assistance of Provost Emeritus John Stewart, has established an endowment which provides two prizes each spring quarter to the graduate student and the undergraduate student who have made the most outstanding contributions to the UC San Diego Jazz Ensemble in the past year. The winner is chosen by Professor Mark Dresser, in consultation with the Jazz Society Board. 

ICAM-Music Award - 

Creative: MARCEL CEDENO | Overall: MARTINE XENJA

This award is given to a graduating senior in recognition of achievement in both technical and artistic mastery of the foundations of music and digital media. It is emblematic of accomplishment during a distinguished undergraduate career and, more importantly, the promise of high achievement yet to come. ICAM award winners look beyond the surfaces and learn the underlying aesthetic and scientific principles that will allow them the reinvention of themselves as their careers blossom in a field of endeavor which itself is constantly evolving. ICAM award winners are those who realize that ideas drive technology and the arts, and not the other way around. This award is given with best wishes for a career of meaning and fulfillment in all professional and personal endeavors.

 Graduate Student Prizes and Awards

The Jazz Society Award - KEIR GOGWILT, KEVIN GREEN and JONATHAN STALLINGS

The Jazz Society of Lower Southern California, with the assistance of Provost Emeritus John Stewart, has established an endowment which provides two prizes each spring quarter to the graduate student and the undergraduate student who have made the most outstanding contributions to the UC San Diego Jazz Ensemble in the past year. The winner is chosen by Professor Mark Dresser, in consultation with the Jazz Society Board. The 2020 Jazz Society Award recipients are PhD candidate in Integrative Studies Keir GoGwilt, and PhD student in Integrative Studies Kevin Green, and PhD student in Composition Jonathan Stallings.

Teaching Assistant (TA) Excellence Award - TERESA DÍAZ DE COSSIO and KATHRYN SCHULMEISTER

First-Year TA Excellence Award - PETER SLOAN