2026 Submissions

CYA Awardees

Presidential Award

Creative Artist Award

Exceptional Award

Categories

Creative Writing

Music Performance

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Downpour

“Downpour” is the first movement of my string quartet, "A Walk in the City."

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Happiness Drank

This song started when my friend described a dream to me.

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Seafoam Tides

“Seafoam Tides” gets its name from the layered textures in the instrumentation, mimicking foam that floats on the surface of ocean waves before washing onto shore.

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The Exoverse

"The Exoverse" is a piece written for vocal septet, orchestra, and electronics.

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Rollercoaster

Rollercoaster was inspired by a recent trip to Anaheim’s theme parks in southern California.

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Soft Ground

“Soft Ground” is a creative writing piece that uses a drifting narrator to explore the feeling of moving through life without fully settling.

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No, No, No

I've often felt frustrated with the results of my music production efforts.

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Tape song

This is a song I wrote for a songwriting exercise in which you choose an object and write a song about it.

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Sunny

I had recently been obsessed with Jimmy Van Heusen's "It Could Happen to You" and dedicated my time to learning it on the Piano, Trumpet, and Saxophone.

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Sewn Together

A couple of months ago, I wrote Sewn Together for my sister, my best friend, when she left home for college.

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Really?

"Really?" is heavily inspired by guitarist Masayoshi Takanaka, to whom I strived to reiterate a similar background for my project.

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Sonata No.10 G maj Op.14 No.2 - Beethoven

Piano performance on a piece I've worked on for over 2 months.

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Robert Schumann - Cello Concerto in a minor

Out of all the cello concertos, my favorite is Schumann's cello concerto.

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Aubade

Aubade, composed by Paul de Wailly, was designed to showcase the technical abilities and unique qualities of each of the three instruments involved.

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Afro Blue Solo

This piece is a solo over Erykah Badu profound song entitled "Afro Blue".

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Rachmaninoff Prelude In G Minor

The most interesting part of playing the piece was phrasing, especially of the middle section. When beginning to learn the phrasing, I tried copying Lugansky's interpretation, but it became obvious that that would not work; I'm not him.

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Can't Catch Me now Cover

I was having a normal day in my bed when I saw that there was a song released for the hunger games franchise.

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Sibelius Violin Concerto mov. 1

I chose to showcase the opening and the ending of the Sibelius Violin Concerto, the finale being my favorite section.

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Applemania by Aleksey Igudesman

Applemania is a contemporary solo-violin piece composed by Aleksey Igudesman.

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Solo of As by Stevie Wonder backed by ‘Til Dawn Acapella

I sing As in my acapella group Til Dawn, and Stevie Wonder’s “As” has become one of those songs that hits deeper the more I work on it.