Joan Tower won Best Classical Contemporary Composition at the 2008 Grammys for Made in America.
Tower composed Made in America as a large-scale orchestral work celebrating the diversity of the United States. The winning recording featured the Nashville Symphony conducted by Leonard Slatkin, and the piece appeared on the album Made in America. Tower’s award recognized the composer, while the performers and recording team were credited in their own Grammy categories.
The victory came at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards, held on February 10, 2008. The recording had an unusually successful evening: it also won Best Orchestral Performance and Best Classical Album. That combination can cause confusion, because those awards honored the performance and album, while Best Classical Contemporary Composition honored Tower’s composition itself.
The category used the name Best Classical Contemporary Composition in 2008; it was renamed Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2012. Tower later became known for works including Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman, but Made in America remains one of her most prominent and widely recognized compositions.