The Australian Music Centre has announced the seven Australian composers shortlisted for the Paul Lowin Orchestral and Song Cycle Prizes.

Acknowledging excellence in Australian composition, the Paul Lowin Prizes are among Australia’s richest compositional awards. In celebration of the AMC’s 50th anniversary this year, the prize pool has increased – the Song Cycle Award grants $15,500 and the Orchestral Award, $30,000. It also offers a $1,000 Highly Commended Prize in each category.

Nyilamum song cycles at the 2025 Adelaide Festival. Photo by Tony Lewis

Lou Bennett and Paul Stanhope‘s Nyilamum Song Cycles is the first work nominated for the 2025 Paul Lowin Orchestral Prize.

It tells the story of Jaara Nyilamum, a deceased baby girl whose remains Bennett’s family repatriated from a museum back to her birthplace of Jaara Jharr; the piece fashions its performers (with Bennett as vocalist and the Australian String Quartet in its five-star 2025 Adelaide Festival performance and Australian premiere) into the voice of Country as it guides Nyilamum to her resting place.

Kevin March‘s “part-performance, part-theatre” composition The Unknown Swimmer...