The winners of the 53rd annual ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Awards were announced last week. Congratulations to Lydia Hamessley, Denise LaSalle (with David Whiteis), Ashley Kahn, Steven C. Smith, Peter Schmelz, Jon Ross, Rita Pyrillis, Nora Guthrie & Robert Santelli, Deanna Witkowski, David Hajdu & John Carey, Bryan Simms & Charlotte Erwin, and Joseph Horowitz. Further congratulations to the Virgil Thomson Award for Outstanding Music Criticism recipients Lewis Porter and Nancy Malitz. For more on these award-winning writers and writings, read the full press release here.

The ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Awards were established in 1967 to honor the memory of composer, critic and commentator Deems Taylor, who died in 1966 after a distinguished career that included six years as President of ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers). The awards recognize books, articles, liner notes, broadcast programs, and new media coverage on the subject of music and were renamed in 2014 to also honor the memory of composer and critic Virgil Thomson. The awards are made possible with support from the Virgil Thomson Foundation.