Previous winners of the award include the Brentano Quartet, the Borromeo String Quartet, the Miami String Quartet, and the Pacifica Quartet.
The Mir‹ Quartet was formed at the Oberlin Conservatory in 1995. It won the Coleman Chamber Music Competition in 1996, the Banff International String Quartet Competition in 1998, and the Naumburg Foundation Chamber Music Award in 2000. The group is on the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin.