| 1972 | Henry Romersa | Founder, International Trombone Workshop |
| 1973 | Lewis Van Haney* | Former Professor, Indiana University |
| 1974 | Buddy Baker | Former Professor, University of Northern Colorado |
| 1975 | Robert King* | Owner and Founder, Robert King Music Company |
| 1976 | Gordon Pulis* | Former Principal Trombonist, New York Philharmonic |
| 1977 | John Coffey* | Former Bass Trombonist, Boston Symphony Orchestra |
| 1978 | Stuart Dempster | Former Professor, University of Washington |
| 1979 | Thomas Beversdorf* | Former Professor, Indiana University |
| 1980 | Thomas Everett | Professor, Harvard University |
| 1981 | Allen Ostrander* | Former Bass Trombonist, New York Philharmonic |
| 1982 | George Roberts* | Los Angeles based Freelance Trombonist |
| 1983 | Leon Brown* | Former Professor, North Texas State University |
| 1984 | Neill Humfeld* | Former Professor, East Texas State University |
| 1985 | Urbie Green* | Jazz Artist, New York City |
| 1986 | Edward Kleinhammer* | Former Bass Trombonist, Chicago Symphony |
| 1987 | William Cramer* | Former Professor, Florida State University |
| 1988 | J. J. Johnson* | Legendary Jazz Artist |
| 1989 | Denis Wick | Former Principal Trombonist, London Symphony Orchestra |
| 1990 | Frank Crisafulli* | Former Trombonist, Chicago Symphony Orchestra |
| 1991 | Christian Lindberg | Virtuoso Solo Trombonist, Stockholm, Sweden |
| 1992 | Juliusz Pietrachowicz | Former Principal Trombonist, Warsaw Philharmonic |
| 1993 | Larry Wiehe* (posthumously)* | Former Trombone Soloist, US Navy Band and US Air Force Band |
| 1994 | Robert Isele* | Former Trombone Soloist, US Marine Band and Trombonist, National Symphony Orchestra |
| 1995 | Vern Kagarice* | Professor, University of North Texas |
| 1996 | Carsten Svanberg | Professor, Musikhochschule, Graz, Austria |
| 1997 | Irvin Wagner | Professor, University of Oklahoma |
| 1998 | Carl Fontana* | Legendary Jazz Artist, Las Vegas |
| 1999 | John Marcellus | Professor, Eastman School of Music |
| 2000 | Heinz Fadle* | Professor, Detmold Hochschule for Musik, Germany |
| 2001 | Phil Wilson | Professor, Berklee College of Music |
| 2002 | Joseph Alessi | Principal Trombonist, New York Philharmonic |
| 2003 | Ben van Dijk | Bass Trombonist, Rotterdam Philharmonic |
| 2004 | Jay Friedman | Principal Trombonist, Chicago Symphony |
| 2005 | Ron Barron | Former Principal Trombonist, Boston Symphony |
| 2006 | Don Lusher* | British Jazz Trombone Artist |
| 2007 | Michel Becquet | French Solo Trombonist & Professor, Conservatoire de Lyon |
| 2008 | Dick Nash | Los Angeles Recording Artist |
| 2009 | Steve Wolfinbarger | Professor, Western Michigan University |
| 2010 | Gustav Hoena | Professor, Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Hungary |
| 2011 | Ralph Sauer | Former Principal Trombonist, Los Angeles Philharmonic |
| 2012 | Per Brevig | Former Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New York |
| 2013 | Ian Bousfield | British Trombone Soloist, Professor Hochschule Bern, former principal trombone London Symphony Orchestra and Vienna Philharmonic. |
| 2014 | Douglas Yeo | Former Professor, Arizona State University. Former bass trombonist, Boston Symphony Orchestra |
| 2015 | Bart van Lier | Principal Trombone, Metropole Orkest, the Netherlands |
| 2016 | David Taylor | Bass Trombone, New York City |
| 2017 | Wycliffe Gordon | International Jazz artist |
| 2018 | Alain Trudel | International Trombone Soloist |
| 2019 | Michael Mulcahy | Chicago Symphony Orchestra |
| 2020 | Megumi Kanda | Principal Trombone, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, |
| 2021 | Charles Vernon | Bass Trombone, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, |
| 2022 | Carol Jarvis | Trombone soloist, London, U.K. |
| 2023 | Jörgen van Rijen | Principal Trombone, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam |
| 2024 | John Fedchock | New York Jazz artist |
* deceased