To underline the importance of musical creation in today's musical life, the International Classical Music Awards ICMA have created a Composer Award.
During their General Assembly at the Philharmonie in Luxembourg, the members of the Jury decided to add a new award to the existing 22 categories. The Composer Award is to honor the work of a living composer. Jury President Rémy Franck said: « For this new award we will monitor musical creation all over the world. Every Jury member will nominate one living composer. Then the Jury will choose the winner from the nomination list. The Award is certainly not meant to be given to the most renowned composers of our time, who do no longer need any promotion. We want to annually chose one composer among the most promising, yet not so well-known composers. » The price will be given for the first time in 2019.