The Bernard/Ebb Songwriting Awards, founded in 2015, celebrate outstanding composers and lyricists from Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC. This exciting event features live performances of original songs by talented finalists, with feedback from a panel of esteemed industry judges. The evening culminates in the announcement of the winners, with prizes ranging from $1,000 to $10,000, including a special $2,500 award for a songwriter under 18. The grand prize winner also receives studio time and career consulting. Join us for a night of exceptional music and discover the region’s rising songwriting stars.
Meet the Final-Round Judges
Damien Sneed
As a multi-genre recording artist and instrumentalist, Damien LeChateau Sneed is a pianist, vocalist, organist, composer, conductor, arranger, producer, and arts educator whose work spans multiple genres. He has collaborated with jazz, classical, pop, and R&B legends, including the late Aretha Franklin and Jessye Norman, Wynton Marsalis, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Denyce Graves, Lawrence Brownlee, Richard Smallwood, The Clark Sisters, and many others. Sneed is also a 2014 Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient.
Sneed recently joined the esteemed faculties of Howard University and The Juilliard School. As a composer, he has been commissioned by Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where his reimagined adaptation of Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha premiered in June 2023.
Sneed was recently signed to Apple Music Classical and Platoon Records (London). His newest recording project, Kaleidoscope, featuring the solo piano music of African American composers, was released in February 2024.
Raul Midón
Blind singer-songwriter and guitarist Raul Midón is nothing if not prolific. His 14th and latest album, Lost & Found, is a blend of what he calls “smooth folk,” “alt-pop,” and “jazz.” A master at combining genres, The New York Times described his music as “a three-way fusion of Stevie Wonder, Bobby McFerrin and José Feliciano.” Midón debuted the album’s first single, the uplifting, bluesy pop song “Keep On Keeping On,” on The Jennifer Hudson Show (December 2023).
Midón has worked with countless industry legends, including Bill Withers, Herbie Hancock, and Sting. In 2022, he paid tribute to Joni Mitchell with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, an event arranged and conducted by Vince Mendoza and featuring Lalah Hathaway, Jimmie Herrod, and Renée Fleming (PBS Next at the Kennedy Center).
Midón received back-to-back Grammy nominations in 2017 and 2018 for his albums Bad Ass and Blind and If You Really Want in the Best Jazz Vocal category. In 2019, he was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from his alma mater, the University of Miami, and the 2021 Disability Rights Ambassador of the Year award, presented by his colleague Jason Mraz.
Angela Sclafani
Angela Sclafani is a New York City-based songwriter, performer, theater-maker, and recording artist. She is the 2019 Bernard/Ebb Songwriting Award winner, a 2023 Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship finalist, a 2018 Richie Jackson Artist Fellow, a 2018 Jonathan Larson Grant finalist, and a 2022 Woman to Watch on Broadway (Broadway Women’s Fund). She has developed work at The Orchard Project, Fresh Ground Pepper, and Le Château de La Napoule in France.
Sclafani’s compositions have been featured in the Off-Broadway song cycle Notes from Now (59E59), Rattlestick Playwright Theater’s New Songs Now, NY Theatre Barn’s New Works, and Prospect Theater Company’s Musical Theater Lab. Her projects include Passion Project: Love Songs from Women to Their Work and The Other Side of Paradise, which premiered in Ars Nova’s ANTFest.
As a performer, Sclafani toured in Todd Almond’s Kansas City Choir Boy starring Courtney Love and participated in workshops for Heidi Rodewald’s The Good Swimmer and Burn All Night.
Sclafani has released three EPs of original music, a collection of reimagined Stevie Nicks hits, and the concept album Songs of Other Selves (2023). She is a three-time Great American Songwriting Contest winner and a finalist in the 2021 Unsigned Only and 2020 John Lennon Songwriting contests. Sclafani earned her BFA at NYU Tisch.
Strathmore extends its deepest gratitude to Cathy, Alex, and Amanda Bernard for their unwavering dedication to our region’s talented songwriters and for generously investing in this meaningful event.
Strathmore is grateful for Innovation Station Music for its support of this program.
