THE 2025 RISING JAZZ
STAR MUSICIAN AWARDS
Rising Star Jazz Musician Award Now Open to Applications from Across BC
Since 2019, the Rising Star Jazz Awards have celebrated exceptional young musicians who excel in jazz performance, study the genre at the secondary or post-secondary level, and aspire to pursue professional careers in jazz. These awards not only recognize their talent but also foster their growth with a $1,000 scholarship and a paid performance opportunity at the Fort Langley Jazz & Arts Festival.
Expanding Our Reach in 2025
As a festival that proudly showcases local, regional, and national talent, we’re thrilled to expand the awards to invite applications from talented jazz students across British Columbia. With so many outstanding music programs in secondary schools and universities throughout the province, we want to ensure all deserving young artists have the chance to apply and shine.
A New Stage for Rising Stars
This year, our Rising Star Jazz Award winners will take the spotlight on the festival's dedicated Youth Stage, generously sponsored by the Tony Quo Vadis Foundation.
Award Categories
The Fort Langley Jazz & Arts Festival offers two award categories:
Secondary School Award
Post-Secondary Award
Each category winner will receive a $1,000 scholarship generously sponsored by Coast Capital and the Fort Langley Community Improvement Society, along with an exciting opportunity to perform live at the festival.
Don’t miss this chance to elevate your jazz journey! Applications are now open to emerging young artists across BC. We look forward to discovering and celebrating the next generation of jazz stars at the 2025 Festival!
The application deadline is March 31, 2025.
Application Evaluation
The Rising Jazz Star Musician Award recognizes an outstanding secondary school student and post secondary student who are studying jazz music; demonstrate a high level of performance ability and is/will be pursuing their goal of a professional career in jazz music.
Applicants will be scored on their applications according to the evaluation criteria below.
An eligible applicant must be:
Planning on studying jazz music at the post-secondary level or is currently studying jazz music at the post secondary level at the time of application.
A Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident, able to provide a Canadian social insurance number.
A permanent resident in British Columbia.
Applications are evaluated by the festival music committee on the basis of:
Calibre of artistic work submitted, demonstrated ability and potential
Demonstrated commitment and achievements in jazz performance
Voluntarily involvement in passing music skills to others
Applicant’s goals in music and potential to become a professional practicing artist
Performance appraisals from music instructors
Quality of presentation, including all supporting documentation
Applicants will be notified of the results in early May.
Past Winners:
2024: Jaiden Christie, Secondary School winner, violinist, guitarist, and upright bassist and Steven Rutherford, Post-Secondary School winner, drums/percussion
2023: Milan Stanga, Secondary School winner, multi-instrumentalist and Ethan Lawrence, Post-Secondary School winner, trumpet
2022: Hugh Penner, trumpet
2021: Amber Tsang, vocals
2020: Alvin Brendan, guitar
2019: Julian Borkowski, trumpet