Celebrated wind quintet Arcadia Winds relaunched its annual composition prize in April last year, and opened up entries for the 2021 competition in October. They received an astounding 26 entries from young Australian composers aged 18-35. Melbourne-based composer Alex Turley has been announced as this year’s winner.

Composer Alex Turley. Photo supplied.

“Turley’s work showed a strong command of the wind medium, and his compelling application was the unanimous choice. The overall standard was very high and we strongly encourage these entrants to apply again in future iterations of the competition,” said composer Elizabeth Younan, who was one of the judges of the prize along with composer Lachlan Skipworth and the members of Arcadia Winds.

Entrants were asked to submit two previously written pieces, as well as a proposal for a new work to be written specially for the quintet. Turley will now receive the $3,000 prize money and begin working with Arcadia Winds to compose a new work, which will be premiered at Melbourne Recital Centre in 2022, and then recorded and released for broadcast. Past winners of the prize include...