Congratulations to our 2023 winner Keaton Clark!







Keaton Clark is a Sophomore Music Education major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, focusing on Saxophone. He is currently hoping to expand his knowledge of all music, so he can become a better musician and in turn, better serve his students after his degree. Throughout his young career, Keaton has had many teachers thatve impacted him, especially in the jazz genre. One of his primary goals for the future is to spread jazz music as much as possible. He believes theres something in jazz for everyone. Throughout his young career, Keaton has had a number of great opportunities. Hes had the honor of being first chair alto in the Iowa All-State Jazz band in 2021, has clinical experience with Lincoln Northeast High School, and gigs in the Lincoln and Des Moines area. Keaton is also an Eagle Scout, completing his project in the summer of 2021.



Congratulations to our 2023 Runner up Richard Batelaan!







Multi-instrumentalist and composer Richard Batelaan has been involved in music his whole life. His music finds the balance between complexity, artistry, and accessibility. As a double major in music performance and physics at UNL, he has gigging experience on saxophone, piano, vocals, flute, and clarinet as well as research experience in architectural acoustics, bioacoustics, and rocket acoustics.