Graduate Research Competition

The Graduate Research Competition promotes the value of research and exposes new and important scholarly work to an interested audience. A panel will select up to two winners for their outstanding contributions to flute study based on the quality of their research, abstract, and proposal. Entrants must have a completed graduate degree at the time of entry, earned no more than five years prior to the convention. Projects submitted for consideration must be original research and not previously published. Applicants who have previously presented or applied to present materials from their graduate research at an NFA convention must submit a proposal that is significantly different from their previous presentation. The proposal should note the other presentation and explain how this one differs. Each winner will be invited to give a 25-minute presentation summarizing the important contributions of their dissertation/thesis/treatise/project at the 2026 NFA Convention in Portland. The winners’ abstracts will be published in The Flutist Quarterly; winners will also have the opportunity to submit scholarly articles on their winning topics to be peer-reviewed for The Flutist Quarterly. Each dissertation/thesis/treatise will be deposited in the NFA Music Library at the University of Arizona after review.

Competition Requirements*

All flutists must be current NFA members at the time the entry is submitted. If chosen to perform or present during the convention, flutists must also be current members at the time of the convention and register for the convention by July 1, 2026. To join or renew, go to nfaonline.org/signup.
Completed entry
All required "Entry Materials" uploaded via the link in your entry confirmation email
$65 entry fee (paid during submission process)

All entrants must submit their entry, upload recordings/supplemental materials, and pay competition and membership fees by 11:59 p.m. Central Standard Time, Thursday, February 12, 2026.

Required Entry Materials

Please provide a separate PDF for each of the below requirements:

A detailed proposal for a 25-minute presentation
Your abstract
Table of Contents
A sample chapter of your choice
A complete bibliography/list of works cited
One complete electronic copy of the full research document

Further Guidelines

All uploaded files must be fully in English except for citations and occasional quotations.
Do not include your name or affiliation on the proposal, abstract, table of contents, chapter, bibliography/works cited, sample chapter, and electronic copy of the full research document.
Winners will need to provide a print copy of the full research document (doctoral dissertation/thesis/ treatise) for deposit in the NFA Library at the University of Arizona.

* Competitions are subject to all rules and regulations on this page as well as the General Competition Information and Rules and Regulations. Incomplete entries will be subject to disqualification.

Coordinator

Heidi Alvarez
heidi.alvarez@wku.edu