The American Academy in Rome announced that Estonian-American composer and animator Lembit Beecher has won a 2025-2026 Rome Prize, the rigorous competition supporting innovative fellows in the arts, humanities, and sciences. The second composer in this category is Oswald Huỳnh, a Vietnamese American composer from Portland, Oregon.
The Rome Prize equips artists and scholars with the time, space, setting, and colleagues to explore and create in the singular city of Rome. The 35 recipients will reside at the Academy’s 11-acre grounds in the Eternal City for five to ten months, starting this September. Beecher will be working on his original composition, A Book of Falsehoods. Huỳnh has the following subject: Displacement and Diaspora, Flaming Forests, Desolate Dawn.
Rome Prize winners are selected annually by juries of distinguished artists and scholars through a national competition. This year’s competition received 990 applications from applicants in 44 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and 17 different countries. The acceptance rate was 3.54 percent. The recipients range from 28 to 71 years old, with an average age of 45.
