Our annual competition is for the composition of a new string quartet by young Irish and Irish-resident composers. Our Call for Scores goes out in November every year. The winners are announced by May. Their winning works are rehearsed and premiered at that year’s West Cork Chamber Music Festival in June/July.

Past judges of this competition include Donnacha Dennehy, Lera Auerbach, Brett Dean and Deirdre Gribbin.

The Young Composers Competition for the West Cork Chamber Music Festival is now open for submissions

” I really felt that the festival was invested in realisation of my music, something that I can’t say I’ve experienced much with festivals in the past.” – Kevin Terry, 2021 winner

• €1000 prize money
• 3 nights at the 2026 Festival 26 June to 5 July
• 2 public performances
• Workshop with competition adjudicator
• Submission deadline: 25 March 2026

We are delighted to announce that Donnacha Dennehy is returning to adjudicate the 2026 Competition

Entrants must be under 35 years old on 1 January 2026. The work must be scored for string quartet and has not been performed prior to the 2026 Festival

Download the full list of criteria Composition competition 2026

Download a submission form

We send our congratulations again to our 2025 winners: Aoife Kavanagh, Rory Murphy and Daniel Vives-Lynch

And many thanks to Deirdre Gribbin for judging the competition.

Earlier winners of the Competition include:

• Seán Doherty (Assistant Professor of Music at Dublin City University)
• Solfa Carlisle and Amanda Feery (both winners of the Seán Ó Riada competition)
• Robert Coleman (NCH Jerome Hynes competition winner)
• Finola Merivale (a Benjamin Franklin fellow at the University of Pennsylvania).

To view a full list of previous winners from 2008 to date, see our Winners pages.