Katey J. Halbert, a visiting assitant professor of music, was awarded third place in the American Prize National Competition for the Performing Arts in the category of Professional Soloist-Brass Division. Her submitted work for the competition, Borealis: An Essay in Three Movements for Horn and Piano, was a commissioned work composed by Catherine McMichael in 2018. The work was premiered by Halbert and McMichael at the International Women's Brass Conference in Tucson, Arizona, in May of 2019 and professionally recorded in December of that same year.

The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts is the nation's most comprehensive series of contests in the classical arts. The American Prize is nonprofit, unique in scope and structure, and is designed to evaluate, recognize and reward the best performers, ensembles, composers, directors and administrators in the United States, based on submitted recordings.

The American Prize has attracted thousands of qualified contestants from all 50 states since its founding, has awarded more than $100,000 in prizes in all categories since 2010 and is presented annually in many areas of the performing arts.