Source: ASCAP December 07, 2011 17:00 ET Broadway Great Stephen Schwartz Honored With ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers Award at 16th Annual ASCAP Foundation Awards & Scholarships Ceremonies in Manhattan NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Dec 7, 2011) - The ASCAP Foundation honored composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz for his lifetime contributions to the Musical Theater with The ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers Award. On hand to make the presentation was Richard Rodgers' grandson and fellow musical theater composer Adam Guettel (The Light in the Piazza). The accolade was presented today during the Foundation's 16th Annual Awards Ceremony, held at the Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, in New York City. The invitation-only event, hosted by ASCAP Foundation President Paul Williams, also honored a wide variety of Scholarship and Award recipients, all of whom benefit from programs of The ASCAP Foundation. Over the course of a four-decade career, New York native Stephen Schwartz has created a major body of musical theater works, including Godspell, Pippin, The Magic Show, The Baker's Wife and the current, long- running hit, Wicked. Schwartz, the recipient of multiple Oscar and Grammy Awards and a Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee, has also contributed lyrics to the scores of the films The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Pocahontas, and both music and lyrics to Prince of Egypt and Enchanted. He is also notable as the Artistic Director of the acclaimed ASCAP Foundation/Disney Musical Theater Workshop since 1994. Other participants in this evening's tribute to Schwartz were cabaret and Broadway stars Judy Kuhn and Scott Coulter, both of whom performed Schwartz songs. Four newly named ASCAP Foundation scholarship and/or award programs have been established in 2011 and the beneficiaries of each new program were honored at the December 7 event. The new programs include: The ASCAP Foundation "Reach Out and Touch" Award in honor of Nick Ashford to provide promising songwriters with financial assistance for professional recordings of their original songs; The ASCAP Foundation Freddy Bienstock Scholarship & Internship which provides the opportunity for a music business student interested in music publishing to intern at a major publishing company; The ASCAP Foundation Mary Rodgers/Lorenz Hart Award, presented to an ASCAP member who is a promising musical theater lyricist or to a composer/lyricist team; and The ASCAP Foundation Louis Prima Award which is presented to a talented vocalist or musician attending the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts. The ASCAP Foundation 2011 Award & Scholarship recipients are: The ASCAP Foundation Harold Adamson Lyric Award Joe Iconis, Femke Weidema The ASCAP Foundation Robert Allen Award Chris Snyder The ASCAP Foundation Harold Arlen Film & TV Award Matthew Janszen The ASCAP Foundation Louis Armstrong Scholarships Dean Olsher, Barry Stephenson The ASCAP Foundation Louis Armstrong Scholarship (in honor of W.C. Handy) Somto Imperial Anumba The ASCAP Foundation "Reach Out and Touch" Award in honor of Nick Ashford André Henry The ASCAP Foundation Charlotte V. Bergen Scholarship Anna Larsen The ASCAP Foundation Irving Berlin Summer Camp Scholarship Evan Johnson The ASCAP Foundation Leonard Bernstein Award Wlad Marhulets The ASCAP Foundation Freddy Bienstock Scholarship & Internship Shane Ching The ASCAP Foundation Boosey & Hawkes Young Composer Award (in honor of Aaron Copland) Stella Fiorenzoli The ASCAP Foundation Leon Brettler Award Brent Wesley Rupard The ASCAP Foundation Irving Burgie Scholarship Ebony Joi The ASCAP Foundation Irving Caesar Scholarship Alexander Castillo, Gordon Lam, Elvis Vanderpool-Krajnak The ASCAP Foundation Sammy Cahn Award Katie Herzig The ASCAP Foundation Desmond Child Anthem Award Matthew Bubel The ASCAP Foundation Cy Coleman Award Mia Minichiello The ASCAP Foundation Eunice & Hal David Merit Award Gretchen Parlato The ASCAP Foundation Fran Morgenstern Davis Scholarship Bryn Holdsworth, Ivan Rosenberg The ASCAP Foundation John Denver Music Scholarship Supported by BMG Chrysalis Jordan Digby, Eyeshia McSwain The ASCAP Foundation Jamie deRoy & friends Award Lance Horne The ASCAP Foundation Louis Dreyfus Warner/Chappell City College Scholarship (in honor of George & Ira Gershwin) Antoine Cara The ASCAP Foundation Max Dreyfus Scholarship Rona Siddiqui The ASCAP Foundation Film Scoring Scholarship Sarah Eide The ASCAP Foundation Ira Gershwin Scholarship Adam O'Farrill The ASCAP Foundation Jay Gorney Award Max Fisher The ASCAP Foundation Mary Rodgers/ Lorenz Hart Award Christopher Dimond & Michael Kooman The ASCAP Foundation Bart Howard Songwriting Scholarship Danielle Deckard The ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award Yuri Boguinia The ASCAP Foundation BMG Chrysalis Scholarship in honor of Quincy Jones Aman Alem The ASCAP Foundation Leo Kaplan Award Anthony Cheung The ASCAP Foundation Steve Kaplan TV & Film Studies Scholarship Sergio Jiménez Lacima The ASCAP Foundation Michelle and Dean Kay Award Jeremy Silver The ASCAP Foundation Leiber & Stoller Music Scholarship Stefani Feldman, Carlos Nieves The ASCAP Foundation Livingston & Evans Music Scholarship Mayu Isom The ASCAP Foundation Frederick Loewe Scholarship Benjamin Bonnema The ASCAP Foundation Barbara and John LoFrumento Award Music Conservatory of Westchester Music Therapy Institute Eastchester School District The ASCAP Foundation Michael Masser Scholarship Simon Wiskowski The ASCAP Foundation Henry Mancini Music Fellowship David Pegel The ASCAP Foundation Rudolf Nissim Prize Eric Nathan The ASCAP Foundation Rudy Perez Songwriting Scholarship Rebecca Carrasco The ASCAP Foundation Cole Porter Award Peter Mills The ASCAP Foundation Louis Prima Award Glenn Hall III The ASCAP Foundation Joe Raposo Children's Music Award Chris Ballew, Garry Novikoff The ASCAP Foundation Joan and Irwin Robinson Scholarship Samuel Disston Tall The ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award Benj Pasek & Justin Paul The ASCAP Foundation David Rose Centennial Award Agatha Kasprzyk, Chad Rehmann The ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Award Garth Neustadter About The ASCAP Foundation Founded in 1975, The ASCAP Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to supporting American music creators and encouraging their development through music education and talent development programs. Included in these are songwriting workshops, grants, scholarships, awards, recognition and community outreach programs, and public service projects for senior composers and lyricists. The ASCAP Foundation is supported by contributions from ASCAP members and from music lovers throughout the United States. www.ascapfoundation.org.