Eleven First Prize Winners competed for the Grand Prize on May 30th 2005 at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. These ensembles came not only from New England but also from New York, North Carolina and Moscow, Russia. They represented very prestigious music schools such as The Julliard School of Music, The New England Conservatory, The Moscow Conservatory, The Boston Conservatory and other musical institutions.

The ICMEC Judges Panel had an extremely challenging and daunting task. They had to compare ensembles in completely different categories, such as jazz, baroque, sonata duo, etc. In addition the uplifting and passionate performance of ICMEC contestants made it even more difficult and challenging for the judges. In order to assist the judges in their selection process we created an evaluation form, with six evaluation categories, such as:

Each of the judges could give a maximum of 60 points for a total maximum of 240 points to each of the competing ensembles. After lengthy discussions the ICMEC Judges Panel announced the Grand Prize competition results.

	Two ensembles, Clarion Trio and Midday Quartet were declared Grand Prize Winners. Each of these two ensembles had scored 208 points. The Chamber Music Foundation of New England will award a second Grand Prize of $500.00 rather than splitting the cash prize between these two ensembles. Both ensembles will perform jointly in the Chamber Music Festival Concert Series on November 6, 2005.