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Scott Reimer (left), Minjoo Kim (right)
Choral Canada encourages and supports the creation of choral music for choirs and singing groups by emerging/early-career Canadian composers/music creators through our biennial Competition for Choral Writing. The 2026 edition has come to a close, and after meticulous deliberation by our Selection Committee, comprised of esteemed choral artists from across the country, we are thrilled to announce the winners of this year's competition:
Scott Reimer
"We Are Carried"
Recipient of the 2026 Diane Loomer Award
Minjoo Kim
"Gloria"
Recipient of the 2026 Stephen Chatman Student Award
We extend our heartfelt congratulations to the deserving winners, whose compositions will undoubtedly enrich the repertoire of Canadian choral music for years to come. The Selection Committee would also like to give honourable mentions to Rebecca Gray ("Rambling") and François Lukawecki ("Cosmic Fireflies") for their submissions to the Diane Loomer Award, and Aaron Manswell ("One Thing At a Time") and Xiangmin Yan ("Ru Meng Ling") for their submissions to the Stephen Chatman Student Award.
"We Are Carried" will be performed by the 2026 National Youth Choir of Canada on Friday, May 15 at Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria, as part of the PODIUM 2026 Choral Conference and Festival.
Scott Reimer
Scott Reimer values the revitalizing power of communal singing and has invested much of his life to the pursuit of collaborative music-making. He grew up in a big family that sang together loudly and boisterously, and he has brought a joyful exuberance with him to each choir he has worked with over the years. Scott grew up near Gretna and has pursued choral engagement in Winnipeg and beyond since high school.
He is the associate conductor and a singer in Canzona and Polycoro, and he also sings in the Canadian Chamber Choir as well as Winnipeg’s premier male vocal quintet, Proximus 5. Scott has performed as a soloist with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, has represented Manitoba in the National Youth Choir of Canada, and has represented Canada in the World Youth Choir on four international tours, having served as tenor section lead in 2018. He completed a Masters degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Manitoba and now leads the choral program at Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute in Winnipeg.
An avid choral composer and arranger, Scott has won several composition competitions and continually strives to program meaningful and diverse repertoire. Scott takes joy in building up and empowering young people to find their voice and a sense of belonging.
About "We Are Carried": This piece took form as the first waves of peace emerged amid a long, stormy haze of grief following the death of our child. Throughout the grieving process, I have come to recognize the many ways that our community of family, friends, neighbours, and colleagues has carried us over the past two years.
We carry each other in thoughts and prayers. We carry our elders and ancestors in grief and memories. We carry our children in our arms and hopes for the future, but also occasionally at times of ultimate devastation, in caskets. I cherish these years of carrying my daughter. I miss feeling the weight of my son in my arms. — Scott Reimer
Minjoo Kim
Minjoo Kim is a composer based in Toronto, who views her music as a "house" built upon her dual identity as a performer and creator. Her work focuses on the organic emergence of Korean sonorities that surface unconsciously within contemporary Western structures.
Recently, she was awarded the first prize in the 2025-2026 Guelph Chamber Choir competition for her composition “Before the Battle,” which was premiered by the GCC and the Orpheus choir. Her previous honours include the Martinu Composition Prize.
Kim's international debut was held in February 2020 in New York City, where she was commissioned by the Mannes Sounds Festival to premiere her solo piano piece. Minjoo holds a Master of Music and a Professional Studies Diploma from Mannes School of Music, where she studied under David T. Little, and is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate in Composition at the University of Toronto under Norbert Palej. In addition to her composition residency, she teaches Music Skills III at the University of Toronto.
About "Gloria": Gloria is one of the most enduring texts in the Western sacred tradition, and setting it to music means entering into a long and remarkable lineage. This work focuses only on the opening portion of the Mass text, ending before Qui tollis peccata mundi, in order to remain within the radiant world of praise before it turns toward supplication.
Musically, the piece is shaped by a pan-diatonic language with continually shifting center tones, creating a sound world that is both luminous and in motion. The piano part, while closely related to the choral writing, also unfolds with its own motivic identity.
As a composer shaped both by years of piano study and by a more unconscious inheritance of Korean musical sound, I hear this work as a meeting place of different layers of memory. With Gloria, I hoped to find my own breath and sound within an ancient language of praise.
— Minjoo Kim
Learn more about the Competition for Choral Writing:
https://www.choralcanada.org/en/competition-for-choral-writing
The Diane Loomer Award is sponsored by:
The Stephen Chatman Student Award is made possible by:
Stephen Chatman & Tara Wohlberg
