(Photo Credit: Jati Lindsay)

Schmidt Vocal Arts has announced the winners of its Fifth Annual National Vocal Competition for high school singers.

Baritone Cooper Bott, from Marengo, Iowa, took first place and a $10,000 prize. Soprano Eva Capron, from New York, New York, earned second place and $7,500. Bass-baritone James Williams, from Pearland, Texas, received third place and $5,000. Bott will pursue vocal performance at Northwestern University in the fall. Capron, a senior at LaGuardia High School, will attend the Curtis Institute of Music. Williams will enter the Juilliard School as a Kovner Fellow, studying with bass-baritone Kevin Short.

Seven encouragement awards of $500 each were presented to baritones Isaac Ahn and Brooks Liang; sopranos Jane Hasty, Abigail Scheer, Ruth Anne Sowa, and Ryhanna Tarte; and tenor Zachary Whelan. New this year, the Bill Schmidt Community Champion Award of $500 was presented to mezzo-soprano Quinn Anne Fotos of Lakewood, Washington. All 16 finalists received a $1,000 award.

The final round, held on May 30 and 31, 2026 at the Sarasota Opera House in Sarasota, Florida, was adjudicated by soprano Latonia Moore; mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, Co-Director of the Lehrer Vocal Institute at the Music Academy of the West; and Christopher Cano, Director of Washington National Opera’s Cafritz Young Artist Program.

Funded by the William E. Schmidt Foundation, Schmidt Vocal Arts has awarded more than $5 million in prizes and scholarships to developing singers since 1997.

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