Remember how last year’s music Pulitzer was awarded to Ornette Coleman’s “Sound Grammar” even though the album wasn’t entered into the competition?  I argued at the time that by awarding the prize to a composer who hadn’t entered, the Pulitzer committee had essentially voided the requested $50 “handling fee.”  This is significant because the number of people who apply for the prize each year is quite small–last year there were only 129 entries for the music prize.  Presumably what happens is that only people who think that they write in the right style and have the right connections and national profile bother to enter–why throw away 50 bucks unless you think you have a shot, right?  Wouldn’t it be nice if the slate of entries were a more accurate representation of the totality of contemporary American composition?

This year’s deadline is January 15, for “works that receive their American premiere between January 16, 2007 and January 15, 2008.”  (How you’re supposed to make that deadline if your premiere is on January 15, I’m not sure.)

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to pick your best piece from 2007 and submit it, following all the guidelines except for the entry fee.  Include a note indicating that the reason that you aren’t sending an entry fee is that since Coleman was awarded the prize without having entered, the competition is clearly open to anyone, whether they officially enter and pay the handling fee or not.  I’ll be submitting my piece “Waiting in the Tall Grass,” which was premiered by Relâche at the end of November.