The winners of the inaugural Art of Piano Education Awards have been announced at a ceremony at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Set up by Elena Cobb of EVC Music, an independent British publisher of piano music, the awards ‘seek to provide an annual focus on celebrating excellence and promoting positive innovation’.
This year’s Art of Piano Education Awards focused on recently released print resources, with plans to expand into other areas in future years.
Aside from the Lifetime Achievement Award, President’s Award and Founder’s Award, the winners of four other categories were chosen by an awards committee comprising Andrew Eales (President of Awards), Sally Cathcart, Murray McLachlan and David Barton.
The committee made its decisions based on a shortlist of five resources nominated by publishers and the general public.
All resources had to have been released in 2023 and available in print in the UK.
The winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award, chosen by the awards’ president Andrew Eales and founder Elena Cobb, went to the celebrated teacher and author Pam Wedgwood.
Cobb commented: ‘Pam Wedgwood is a legend among teachers and educators. For over 30 years, her wonderful music has helped so many teachers worldwide inspire their young pupils to learn to play the piano.
‘The Jazzin’ About and Up-Grade! piano books remain firmly on the recommended list, and Pam's ability to continue writing beautiful music is breathtaking.’
Wedgwood’s catalogue currently numbers over 200 books in multiple languages, with sales exceeding 1.5 million copies.
Art of Piano Education Awards 2024 winners:
The Best Educational Publication: Book or Magazine
How to Sight-Read by Paul Harris
Faber Music
The Best Classical Piano Repertoire: Book or Series
The Piano Sonatas by Schubert
Bärenreiter-Verlag
The Best Contemporary Piano Repertoire: Book or Series
The Secret Garden by Jakub Metelka
Bärenreiter-Praha
The Best Piano Method or Educational Series
Piano Inspiration by Isata Kanneh-Mason
ABRSM
The Founder’s Award
Piano Music of Black Composers, edited by Leah Claiborne
Hal Leonard
The President’s Award
Notebook for J.C. Bach by J.S. Bach, edited by C. Wolff
Edition Peters
The Lifetime Achievement Award
Pam Wedgwood
