French Singer Malou Oheix Wins $50,000 Jazz Vocals Prize in Paris
French vocalist Malou Oheix has won the 2026 Herbie Hancock Institute International Jazz Vocals Competition in Paris, taking the first-place $50,000 scholarship.
The finals took place on Oct. 11 inside the Fondation Louis Vuitton auditorium, after the two-day event on Oct. 10-11. The competition was presented by the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz in partnership and with the support of Fondation Louis Vuitton, according to Billboard.
Oheix won for two songs: “I’m Glad There Is You” and a new version of “Madame Toulouse” built around scat, the improvised wordless singing long used in jazz. The first-place award is given as a scholarship. She is 27.
Georgia Heers took the second-place $25,000 scholarship for “Moon, Don’t Come Up Tonight” and “Thou Swell.” Lucy-Anne Daniels took the $10,000 third-place scholarship for “Nature Boy” and “Old Devil Moon.” In total, more than $100,000 in scholarships and prizes was awarded by the Institute and Fondation Louis Vuitton.
The Paris weekend was a first. In its 39-year history, the Institute had never before staged its international competition outside the United States. The 2026 vocals edition was open to singers aged 30 and under. It drew more than 200 applications, with 11 semifinalists selected to perform in Paris.
The five jurors were singers Dee Dee Bridgewater, Roberta Gambarini, Angelique Kidjo, Gretchen Parlato and Gregory Porter. The finals and gala concert were hosted by Academy Award-winning actor Jeremy Irons. Jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval was honoured with the Maria Fisher Founder’s Award at the gala.
The gala programme also looked beyond the contest. It included a tribute to Frank Gehry, introduced by conductor Gustavo Dudamel appearing as a special guest, according to PR Newswire. The evening also observed the centennial of Miles Davis, the trumpeter and bandleader born in 1926 whose work shaped modern jazz, as noted by WRTI.
Oheix is from Nantes, France, according to the Herbie Hancock Institute. She previously won the 2nd Soloist Prize at the Sunside Jazz Awards. Her win in Paris gave the competition’s first edition outside the United States a home winner.
What makes this stand out is the scale of the launch. A new city, a full house in a major concert hall, and a judging panel of working vocalists put the three prizewinners before an international audience at the start of their careers.
