The Art of Piano Education Awards Announcement

London, UK 18 January 2024 – Elena Cobb, founder of the EVC Music and the Star Prize Festival at the Royal Albert Hall, has announced the launch of the Art of Piano Education Awards, #PianoEdAwards. The first event will take place on 17 June 2024 at the Royal Albert Hall, the Elgar Room, during the Star Prize Festival.

Andrew Eales, currently a publishing consultant for the EVC and a respected expert in piano resources (Pianodao.com), has accepted the President of the Awards role.

The awards will seek to provide an annual focus on celebrating excellence and promoting positive innovation. It is planned to expand to more categories in future years, moving beyond the initial print resource focus.

Elena Cobb, ‘The awards will focus exclusively on piano resources and education in the UK and Internationally and celebrate the achievements of everyone in this often-overlooked educational sector.’

Andrew Eales, ‘The Art of Piano Education Awards presents an exciting opportunity for all stakeholders in piano education. Across our sector, we see tremendous dedication, commitment, passion and professionalism; these awards will provide an annual focus for recognising excellence and for promoting positive innovation.’

The awards will include the following categories:

1. The best piano repertoire book or series
2. The best piano method book or series
3. The best educational publication (book, magazine) 4. The Lifetime Achievement Award

Categories 1-3: nominations are invited by the public and publishers and voted by the panel of experts. The Lifetime Achievement Award will be nominated and voted on by a panel of experts. The panel includes Andrew Eales, Sally Cathcart, Murray McLachlan and David Barton.

The nominations will open on 1 February and close on 29 February on the awards website.

Disclaimer:

Andrew Eales: “It hopefully goes without saying that my own publications should not be nominated, and cannot be considered for this year’s awards. This is a matter of transparency, and a sacrifice which necessarily applies to those organising such Awards. That said, we hope that in future years many of these roles will rotate and pass to other experts in the field.”

Elena Cobb: ” As I am the main organiser of the event, the EVC Music publications will not be considered for the award.”