Christopher Monk Award

About the Christopher Monk Award

The Christopher Monk Award was established by the HBS to recognize scholars, performers, instrument makers or teachers who have made significant and life-long contributions to study and/or performance in the field of brass history. Nominations for the award are due by January 30th of each year, are accepted only from active members of the HBS, and must include detailed written support for the nominee. See below to find out more about the Monk Award or to make a nomination.

Christopher Monk Award Recipients

2023 - Jeremy West
2022 - Charles Toet
2021 - Friedemann Immer
2020 - Peter Holmes
2019 - John Wallace
2018 - Richard Seraphinoff
2017 - Sabine Klaus
2016 - Jeremy Montagu
2015 - Wim Becu
2014 - Arnold Myers
2013 - [not awarded]
2012 - Kenneth Kreitner
2011 - Rainer Egger
2010 - Dan Morgenstern
2009 - Jean-François Madeuf
2008 - Clifford Bevan
2007 - Robert King (awarded postumously)
2006 - Robert Barclay
2005 - Gunther Schuller
2004 - Crispian Steele-Perkins
2003 - Renato Meucci
2002 - Trevor Herbert
2001 - Stewart Carter
2000 - Bruce Dickey
1999 - Hermann Baumann
1998 - Mary Rasmussen
1997 - Keith Polk
1996 - Herbert Heyde
1995 - Edward H. Tarr

Qualifications and Nominating Process

The Christopher Monk Award was established by the HBS to recognize scholars, performers, instrument makers or teachers who have made significant and life-long contributions to study and/or performance in the field of brass history.

Nominations for the award should be submitted by January 30 of each year, nominations submitted after that date will be included with other nominations being considered in the following year.

The rules and processes relating to the award are as follows.

1. Any member of the HBS in good standing may nominate a person for the award. The nominee does not have to be a member of the HBS.
2. No person can receive the award more than once.
3. A call for nominations will be advertised each year on the HBS website.
4. Nominations must be made directly and in confidence to the chair of the Monk Award Committee This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Each nomination must be accompanied by the following important information
   1. The name and contact details of the nominee.
   2. A short (300 word) text explaining why the nomination is made and the field in which the nominee has excelled.
   3. Evidence of esteem: the evidence the Committee should take account of when considering the nomination. 
5. The Committee will consider all nominations in complete confidence. It will not provide feedback to proposers or enter into correspondence concerning its decisions. 
6. The Committee may elect to carry forward unsuccessful nominations to a subsequent year, but it is not obliged to do so and will not publicise such action.
7. The Committee can decide not to make the award if, on the basis of the evidence presented, it is not confident that a worthy nomination has been made. 
8. The Chair will contact successful nominees with an invitation to accept the award before a public announcement is made.
9. The award is in the form of a plaque. The names of all Monk award recipients will appear in each copy of the Society’s journal and on its website in perpetuity.

The committee

1. The Committee shall normally be made up of four persons who are members of the HBS in good standing, three of which shall have previously been the recipient of the award; one of these three will be the chair.
2. The Committee shall not be deemed quorate unless all members contribute to the process of discussion and selection.
3. The Committee membership must include both genders.
4. If a member of the Committee who is not a previous recipient of the Monk Award is nominated for the award, he or she shall withdraw from consideration of all nominees for that year and a fourth person will be invited by the chair to take his/her place.
5. The Committee will attempt to reach a consensus decision; if a consensus does not emerge there shall be a vote with the chair having a casting vote.

The present membership
Trevor Herbert (Chair)* This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Sabine Klaus*
Kenneth Kreitner*
Steve Plank
*Previous recipient of the Monk Award