The AMP Awards competition–honoring excellence in music and sound across a wide range of advertising and brand content categories–has renamed the award for Best Original Score as the David & Jan Horowitz Award for Best Original Score, in recognition of the combined accomplishments and contributions made by this husband-and-wife team to both the music industry at large and to the formation and growth of AMP.
A highly awarded composer and jazz pianist, David passed away in April of 2020 at the age of 77 due to complications of the coronavirus. Over his 32-year career he composed thousands of pieces of music and supervised sessions and film shoots for highly prestigious clients, brands and agencies. And Jan, who was David’s business partner and great love, was a founder of AMP and served as its president. Her leadership and insight was instrumental in guiding the creation of AMP’s bylaws and helping set the direction of the association.
“We genuinely felt that David and Jan were our industry’s ultimate power couple, and so this honor is richly deserved,” said Jeff Rosner, a member of the AMP Awards committee and a co-founder of both AMP and the AMP Awards. “We’ll miss David’s presence, but hope to ensure that both his and Jan’s contributions to AMP will always be remembered and cherished.”
“I am so pleased to hear about the new name for the award for Best Original Score,” Jan said. “Honoring David, his work, his music and the toil that went into it reminded me of things he used to say. He told our composers, ‘You can study in music school, but no one can teach you how to write original music. Either you can find it in yourself or you can’t–it’s a gift.’
“For my part, running interference for a composer was an act of mercy and triage,” she continued. “Sometimes I had the decoder ring for all the ‘client speak,’ and other times all I could say was, ‘I’m your harshest fan, and I think what you’ve written is freaking brilliant.’ Above all, David was grateful for all the talented people who trusted him with scoring their films, and the opportunity they gave him to work with so many artists–the musicians and singers and engineers who brought his music to life.”
Call for entries
The AMP Awards issued its call for entries, made by Georg Bissen of MetaTechnik, president of the national board of the Association of Music Producers. The deadline for submitting entries is Friday, March 4, 2022. AMP members in good standing will qualify for a 30 percent early bird discount if their entries are received by January 28.
To be eligible for the competition, entries must have aired or been made public between Feb. 14, 2021 and Feb. 25, 2022. Winners will be announced at the AMP Awards presentation, scheduled for May 24.
This year’s slate of AMP Awards categories includes several which were omitted from the 2021 competition owing to the pandemic. Here’s a full rundown of categories:
- Best Original Song
- Best Original Score
- Outstanding Adaptation / Arrangement
- Best Use of a Licensed Pre-existing Recording
- Best Sound Design
- Most Effective Use of Music in a Campaign
- Best Use of Music in a Promo, Trailer or Title Sequence for Film, TV, or Game
- Most Innovative Process & Execution
- Best Artist + Brand Collaboration
- Outstanding Mix
- Best Use of Music and Sound in New Media Marketing
- Best Use of Music and Sound in Experiential/Events
- Outstanding Sonic Branding or Mnemonic
- Excellence in Audio-Only Marketing
AMP’s Best in Show honor, named for the late music supervisor Ryan Barkan, will be selected by its Curatorial Committee from among the top category winners.
