BREAKING NEWS — Hannah Edgar, a freelance writer, editor, researcher, and radio producer based in Chicago, is the winner of the 2026 William Littler Prize for Music Criticism. Established in 2024, the prize is awarded annually by the Music Critics Association of North America (MCANA) in recognition of excellence in writing by younger critics in the areas of concert music and opera.
The prize is named for, and supported by, William Littler, who wrote for the Toronto Star from 1966 to 2022 and is a longtime member of MCANA.
The winning entry for the calendar year 2025, a review of a concert by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra featuring pianist Yunchan Lim and CSO music director designate Klaus Mäkelä, was published December 20, 2025, in the Chicago Tribune, to which Edgar has been a regular contributor since 2021, the year the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism began funding their work at the newspaper.
Comprising the jury were three former presidents of MCANA — Barbara Jepson, Nancy Malitz, and Donald Rosenberg. Arthur Kaptainis, also a former MCANA president, served as nonvoting chairman.
Rosenberg called Edgar “an insightful critic who is able to home in on the essence of a piece and a performance. Edgar’s reviews are worthwhile both for readers who attended the event and for those who simply have an interest in the topic.”
Malitz noted Edgar’s “strong talent for writing, advance study of the repertoire, lively enthusiasm, and no little musical insight.” Jepson admired Edgar’s ability to “draw and keep the reader’s interest” and confidence in making broader cultural references.
Applicants were invited to enter a maximum of three reviews or other critical commentaries published in North America in 2025. Many submissions appeared in online platforms. “There is more good music criticism in circulation than is commonly supposed,” Kaptainis said.
As well as the Tribune, Edgar’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, the Chicago Sun-Times, Musical America, Opera America Magazine, and VAN Magazine. As a radio writer and producer, Edgar has contributed to WBEZ, Chicago’s NPR affiliate station.
A Bang on a Can Media Fellow and finalist for a Lisagor Award in Best Arts Reporting and Criticism, Edgar was named one of the Windy City Times “30 Under 30,” recognizing excellence among young, Chicago-based LGBTQ+ professionals. As an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, Edgar won the Leonard B. Meyer Prize for a thesis on the influence and legacy of the Chicago critic Claudia Cassidy (1899-1996). This thesis was accepted for publication in the 2018 Chicago Studies Annual.
“I am humbled to be this year’s Littler Prize recipient,” said Edgar. “I owe this award to the mentorship and guidance of so many great critics, many of whom are MCANA members: Joshua Kosman, whose columns sparked my imagination as a young person; Alex Ross, whose eloquence inspired a lifelong love affair with classical music; Wynne Delacoma, Nancy Malitz, and Lawrence B. Johnson, who have made the lonely freelancing life immeasurably friendlier from our shared home perch in Chicago; and Anne Midgette, whose sage wisdom I’ve leaned upon more times than I can count. I am also grateful to MCANA and especially William Littler for providing this opportunity in a harrowing landscape for music critics everywhere, particularly those just starting out.”
The William Littler Prize for Music Criticism is open to writers aged 40 or under who are based in North America. Included in the prize are a cash award of $1,000 and membership in MCANA, an organization dedicated to the promotion of high standards of music criticism and public engagement with classical music.
The online journal of MCANA is Classical Voice North America. More information about MCANA and the William Littler Prize for Music Criticism is available at mcana.org.
