| 1953 | Naomi Weiss |
| 1958 | Virginia Hutchings |
| 1963 | Christopher Sager, Jeffrey Siegel |
| 1966 | Bonnie Kellert |
| 1969 | Nina Louise Tichman |
| 1972 | Dean Kramer |
| 1975 | Jane Coop |
| 1978 | Robert McDonald |
| 1981 | Francisco Rennó |
| 1984 | Gwendolyn Mok, Peter Collins |
| 1987 | Gail Niwa |
| 1990 | Vivian Choi |
| 1993 | Mark Anderson |
| 1996 | Lora Tchekoratova |
| 1999 | Ory Shihor |
| 2002 | Robert Henry, Yoshikazu Nagai |
| 2005 | Jie Chen |
| 2008 | Not awarded |
| 2011 | Yoonie Han |
| 2014 | Somang Jeagal |
| 2017 | Yi-Yang Chen |
| 2021 | Vivian Chen |
| Violin | Viola | Cello | |
| 1950 | Diana Steiner | — | — |
| 1955 | Elaine Skorodin | — | — |
| 1959 | — | — | Toby Saks |
| 1964 | Not awarded | ||
| 1967 | — | — | Ralph Kirshbaum |
| 1970 | Hiroko Yajima | — | Marc Johnson |
| 1973 | Gil Morgenstern | — | Steven Doane |
| 1976 | Mitchell Stern | — | Nils Oliver |
| 1979 | Guillermo Figueroa | — | Marcy Rosen |
| 1982 | Stacy Phelps | Joen Vasquez | Jonathan Spitz |
| 1985 | Adela Peña | Cynthia Phelps | Kari-Lise Ravnan |
| 1988 | Keng-Yuen Tseng | Roberto Diaz | Kim Bak Dinitzen |
| 1991 | Kyung-Sun Lee | Daniel Foster | Peter Stumpf |
| 1994 | Malin Broman | Carol Rodland | Zvi Plesser |
| 1997 | Jennifer Frautschi | Kirsten Johnson | Diliana Momtchilova |
| 2000 | Yoo-Kyung Min | Roland Glassl | Panu Luosto |
| 2003 | David Bowlin | Melissa Reardon | Cecilia Lee |
| 2006 | Daniela Shtereva | Yu Jin | David Requiro |
| 2009 | Ga Hyun Cho, Andrea Segar | Emily Deans | Hee-Young Lim |
| 2012 | Stefani Collins | Matthew Lipman | Matthew Zalkind |
| 2015 | Nadir Kashimov | Yifei Deng | — |
| 2018 | Youjin Lee | Muriel Razevi | Tony Ryder |
| 2022 | Jaewon Wee | SoHui Yun | Sydney Lee |
| 1976 | Christopher Brown |
| 1979 | Don Freund |
| 1982 | Elisabeth Brusa |
| 1985 | Thomas Allen Levines |
| 1988 | Sung-Hyun Yun |
| 1991 | Yong Yang |
| 1994 | Eugenio Manuel Rodrigues |
| 1997 | Kent Marks |
| 2000 | Jason Haney |
| 2003 | Peter A. Gilbert |
| 2006 | Nathan J. Stumpff |
| 2009 | Zhou Tian |
| 2012 | Feng-Hsu Lee |
| 2015 | Roydon Tse |
| 2018 | Matthew Peterson |
| 2022 | Sam Wu |
| 1952 | Madelaine Chambers, soprano |
| 1956 | Robert Kerns, baritone |
| 1961 | No first prize awarded |
| 1962 | Rachel Mathes, soprano |
| 1965 | Esther Hinds, soprano; William Neill, tenor |
| 1968 | Jessye Norman, soprano; William Cochran, tenor |
| 1971 | Evelyn Petros, soprano |
| 1974 | Cynthia Clarey, mezzo-soprano; Robert Guarino, baritone |
| 1977 | Gwendolyn Bradley, soprano; Gregory Wiest, tenor; Christopher Deane, bass |
| 1980 | Mary Ann Hart, mezzo-soprano; Ben Holt, baritone |
| 1983 | Stefannie Pearce, soprano; Christopher Trakas, baritone |
| 1986 | Sally Steven, soprano; Ned Barth, baritone |
| 1989 | Rosa Vento, soprano; Tracey Scott Welborn, tenor |
| 1992 | Rebecca Turner, soprano; Bradley Garvin, bass-baritone |
| 1995 | Alison Buchanan, soprano; Stephen Powell, baritone |
| 1998 | Leslie Johnson, mezzo-soprano |
| 2001 | Tim Augustin, tenor; Audrey Babcock, mezzo-soprano |
| 2004 | Andrew Garland, baritone |
| 2007 | Eugene Chan, baritone |
| 2010 | Colleen Daly, soprano |
| 2013 | Soloman Howard, bass |
| 2016 | Maggie Finnegan, soprano |
| 2019 | Amanda Palmeiro, soprano |
| 2023 | Matthew Hill, tenor |