The NAMM Foundation has recognized 103 college music students with the organization’s President’s Innovation Award. The annual award provides college music students focused on a career in music education, music business and/or music products a stipend to attend The 2020 NAMM Show and explore concepts, sessions and technologies across music, pro audio and entertainment technology.
At The NAMM Show, the Innovation Award winners will have the opportunity to network with established industry professionals, check out the latest products and technologies, and participate in The NAMM Foundation’s GenNext initiative: a professional development program for college students to help jump-start their careers. Held during each day of the show, and presented in conjunction with the College Music Society, NAMM’s GenNext is open to all college and university students and provides dedicated educational sessions to help the emerging professional advance in their career, including Saturday’s “Careers in Music” summit where they will hear from professional trumpeter, Jonathan Dely and NAMM President and CEO, Joe Lamond.
“Research dictates that having career opportunities and mentorship early on offers improved career outcomes for college-aged students. It’s entirely possible that the great next product inventor, retailer, producer, engineer or music educator will be among us in the class of 2020 Presidents Innovation Award winners,” shares Mary Luehrsen, Executive Director of The NAMM Foundation.
The 103 recipients span colleges from New York to California, and come from a diverse variety of backgrounds and college majors, dedicated to pursuing a career in their respective fields.
For one award-winner, Alyssa Bala, a senior at Ferris State in Michigan, music education has " shaped my life in a variety of ways in both personal and professional. It has helped me figure out what I am passionate about, what paths in the industry I want to work in, and what paths I enjoy learning about but not working in,” Bala says. She hopes that The NAMM Show will help launch her career “as there is nothing else I can see myself doing for the rest of my life that will make me as happy as music does.”
Anthony Long, a senior at Eastern Kentucky University, says that winning the award [will] “Really push me further into the area where I need to be. I need to be around the music industry to learn and grow so I can be best equipped to enter the industry straight out of college.”
“The 2020 NAMM show would advance my [career] goals because I would be around like minded creatives, learn more about the music industry and see all of the new products and services that are available to users,” affirms Evan Fear, a music business major at Bradley University in Illinois.
Marty Cooper, a senior at the University of Southern California is an aspiring audio engineer. For Cooper, the chance to attend The NAMM Show means that, I'm excited for NAMM not only to see innovative new gear and have the opportunity to learn from my production heroes, but also to see old friends that now live across the country who I only get to see at NAMM!”
Congratulations to the 2020 President’s Innovation Award recipients: