YLJC Student Wins 2025 National YoungArts Competition in Jazz Piano 🎹 🎉

🎉 YLJC Student Malik Minert Named 2025 National YoungArts Winner in Jazz Piano

Celebrating outstanding achievement in jazz and artistic excellence

We are thrilled to announce that Malik Minert, a talented pianist and student at Young Lions Jazz Conservatory, has been named a 2025 YoungArts Winner in Jazz/Piano—a prestigious national honor recognizing the top emerging young artists in the country.

Each year, YoungArts selects winners from a highly competitive pool of applicants between the ages of 15–18 or in grades 10–12, representing the top 7% of submissions in visual, literary, and performing arts. Winners are selected through a rigorous blind adjudication process by panels of accomplished artists and are eligible for mentorships, financial awards, national performance opportunities, and long-term support throughout their creative careers.

Past YoungArts winners have gone on to become leaders in their fields—names like Viola Davis, Terence Blanchard, Amanda Gorman, and Timothée Chalamet. To see Malik join this incredible group is both humbling and inspiring.

Here’s what Malik shared about his journey and how YLJC helped shape it:

“I truly can’t put into words how honored I am to have received the YoungArts award in Jazz Piano. Jazz, for me, is something that has slowly evolved to become an irreplaceably central part of my life, and

I can’t talk about that evolution without talking about YLJC.

From the first time I stepped into the classroom to now, the impact the program has had on my musical life is tremendous. In working with such inspiring instructors as Gilbert Castellanos, Carter Key, and Joshua White, I have learned so much about the jazz idiom and its rich history by playing the music of the pantheon of jazz masters—from Charlie Parker to Wayne Shorter—gaining along the way indelible insights on group interaction and, overall, on how to become a better musician.”

— Malik Minert

We couldn’t be prouder of Malik for his well-earned success and can’t wait to see what lies ahead in his musical journey.

👏 Please join us in congratulating Malik Minert, 2025 YoungArts Winner in Jazz Piano!