The award, sponsored by the performing-rights organization BMI, includes a cash prize of $10,000. It is presented annually to a young composer "who best demonstrate[s] originality, creativity, and excellence in jazz composition." The winning work is then performed at the Thelonious Monk Institute's competition for instrumentalists, which this year takes place on September 18 and 19 in Washington, D.C., and is devoted to the guitar.
Moriya's composition, titled "Playground," is for tenor saxophone, trumpet, guitar, piano, bass, and drums.
A native of Japan, Moria studied at Waseda University in Tokyo and at the Manhattan School of Music; her teachers include pianist Harold Danko. She currently leads a big band and teaches in Japan.