ASCAP presented its annual awards for music writing and broadcasts to honour various contributors to the industry. Biographies of Bernard Herrmann and John Williams received awards for their coverage of the composers.
A documentary about Swamp Dogg, titled “Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted”, won an award and is scheduled for release in 2025. Rick Beato earned a Special Recognition Award for his 2025 YouTube series “Everything Music”, while his YouTube podcasts also secured an award.
Ben Sisario won the Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Award for a pop music article in the New York Times. Esteban Meneses received the Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Award for a story regarding Mexican symphonic composers.
Gabriel Kahane received the Virgil Thomson Award for Outstanding Music Criticism for a piece in the Atlantic. Ruth Komanoff Underwood won a liner notes award for a personal essay included in a 1974 concert film boxed set.
Isaac Gale, Ryan Olson and David McMurry won the Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Broadcast/Media Award in the pop music category. Gail Wein took home the Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Broadcast/Media Award for concert music.
Gayle Wald won a Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Book Award in pop music for “This Is Rhythm: Ella Jenkins, Children’s Music, and the Long Civil Rights Movement”. James O’Leary received a Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Book Award in pop music for “The Middlebrow Musical: Between Broadway and Opera in 1940s America”.
Lucy Caplan won a Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Book Award in concert music for “Dreaming in Ensemble: How Black Artists Transformed American Opera”. Tim Greiving won a Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Book Award in concert music for “John Williams: A Composer’s Life”.
Steven C. Smith won a Special Recognition Award for “Hitchcock and Herrmann: The Friendship and Film Scores that Changed Cinema”.
