Celebrating leaders in the early music community.
Nominations for 2023 Awards open now!
Current Awards
Thomas Binkley Award
This award honors individuals who, in their roles as leaders of collegiate early-music ensembles, have made outstanding contributions to the study and performance of early music.
This award is named for the legendary lutenist and educator Thomas Binkley, who taught at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, made ground-breaking recordings with the Studio der Frühen Musik, and served as founding director of the Early Music Institute at Indiana University.
More about the Binkley Award
Howard Mayer Brown Award
For lifetime achievement in the field of early music
This award is named in memory of the renowned and beloved musicologist from the University of Chicago, Howard Mayer Brown. Brown’s scholarship covered a wide range of subjects. He published on the music of the Renaissance, especially the chanson and instrumental music, and frequently returned to problems in historical performance practice, a subfield in which he was one of the most important commentators.
More about the Brown Award
Laurette Goldberg Award
For achievement in early music outreach.
Named for teacher, performer, author, and musical innovator Laurette Goldberg, this award recognizes ongoing, outstanding achievement in educational or outreach endeavors by individual performers, teaching artists, or ensembles. With the Laurette Goldberg Award, EMA celebrates work that draws new audiences or practitioners, or engages such communities in a new manner; that achieves remarkable breadth or depth of reach, seen in numbers of people engaged or in hours of engagement; and that stands to leave a lasting mark on the historical performance field, by transforming the communities served or by modeling practices that can be replicated and developed by others in the profession.
Submit a Nomination
Nomination Details
- Nominations for the 2023 Annual Awards are welcome through Monday, June 12, 2023.Â
- Nominees should be residents of North, South, or Central America.
- A committee consisting of members of EMA’s Board of Directors will review the nominations and select Award recipients.
- The 2023 Annual Awards will be presented on October 26 during a special Awards Ceremony at the 2023 EMA Summit in Boston, MA.
- Nominators will be asked to provide the following in the nomination form.
- Name of Nominee
- Contact Email for Nominee (if known)
- Award for which they are being nominated
- Reasons for the nomination (500 words max)
- How the nominator knows the nominee (150 words max)
- Nominator name, email, and phone number
2022 Award Recipients

- Anne Azéma- Thomas Binkley Award who, in their role as a leader of collegiate early-music ensembles, has made outstanding contributions to the study and performance of early music
- David Douglass & Ellen Hargis – Howard Mayer Brown Award for lifetime achievement in the field of early music
- Debra Nagy – Laurette Goldberg Award for achievement in early music outreach
Past Awards
Early Music Brings History Alive Award (1998-2006)
This award acknowledged the importance of educational outreach in early music, and exposing the next generation to its delights and wonders.
Recipients
2006: New York State Early Music Association
2005: Nina Stern
2005: Special Award for Outstanding Contributions to Early Music Education: Mark Cudek
2004: Peggy Monroe
2003: Piffaro, The Renaissance Band
2003: Honorable Mention: David Coffin
2002: American Classical Orchestra
2001: No Award
2000: Ensemble Musical Offering
1999: Chatham Baroque
1998: Nottingham Fair