The annual Jules L_ger Prize was created in 1978 by then-Governer General of Canada Jules L_ger, to foster new Canadian chamber music and encourage its performance by Canadian ensembles.

Members of the 2005 jury include composers John Burke and Michael Oesterle, both previous winners of the L_ger Prize. The committee was a "blind jury," and evaluated the compositions without knowing the names of the composers.

The jury said: "Garland pushes not only the boundaries of chamber music, but it concurrently challenges the notion of contemporary creation in that the work was written for baroque period instruments. The composition has an immediate beauty..."

New York native Linda Caitlin Smith was born in 1957 and has lived in Toronto since 1981. She studied composition with Allen Shawn in New York, and then with Rudolf Komorous, Martin Bartlett, John Celona, and Jo Kondo at the University of Victoria. Her works have been performed by ensembles including Vancouver New Music, Tafelmusik, Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Penderecki Quartet, and the CBC Radio Orchestra.