2020 Member Awards

2020 Service Award

Recipient: Julia Kovalev

Every year, NJMTA presents the Service Award acknowledging a member who has contributed much time and effort to NJMTA and its vision. The awardee is selected by the NJMTA Nomination Committee.

The committee has chosen Julia Kovalev as the recipient of this year's NJMTA Service Award.

Julia Kovalev has been a member of the Board for over 10 years, acting as the chairperson of the MTNA Student Composition Competition and bringing more awareness to the area of student composition. Under her leadership, there has been a significant increase in the number of participants in the competition. Without her efforts in promoting this event, NJMTA would not have been able to share the work of talented composition students in New Jersey on both the state and national levels. Furthermore, she initiated the idea of including the composition competition winners in the State Conference winners' recitals so that they can have an opportunity to have their work performed in front of the public. Above all, Julia is always willing to help in not only the event that she is in charge of, but in other MTNA competitions as well.

Please join us in congratulating Julia Kovalev as the recipient of the 2020 NJMTA Service Award.

Congratulations, Julia!

2020 Teacher of the Year

Recipient: Tomoko Harada

Every year, NJMTA presents the Teacher of the Year Award to a teachers who is highly exemplary in their teaching, character and service. Nominations are taken, and then the members vote on the nominees. The board would like to thank the Teacher of the Year Committee( (Chiu-Tze Lin, chair/Phyllis Lehrer, Yining Wang) for monitoring the election, ensuring that it was done fairly and with the highest standards of transparency and fairness.

The NJMTA board is proud to announce that this year’s Teacher of the Year is awarded to Tomoko Harada.

Tomoko Harada has shown that she is consistently committed to the highest standards for music education. Her passion towards teaching is well reflected in her students' performances as they are always of superb musical and technical quality. Tomoko's participation in any organization is the biggest treasure they can have, as she dedicates her impeccable administrative skills to make sure their activities succeed. “She is a smart, capable, trustworthy, humble, and hardworking person as well as an intelligent piano teacher.” “…heard nothing but praise for Tomoko Harada as a person of the highest ethical standards, a widely respected teacher, and most of all, a truly honored citizen of the musical community!”

Congratulations Tomoko Harada!