The Ditson Conductor's Award honors conductors who have a distinguished record of performing and championing contemporary American music. Established in 1945, it is the oldest continuing award of its kind.
| Year | Conductor |
|---|---|
| 2024 | Vimbayi Kaziboni |
| 2023 | James Baker |
| 2022 | Delta David Gier |
| 2021 | John Adams |
| 2020 | Steven Schick |
| 2019 | Bradley Lubman |
| 2018 | Oliver Knussen |
| 2017 | Marin Alsop |
| 2016 | Cliff Colnot |
| 2015 | John Mauceri |
| 2014 | Harold Rosenbaum |
| 2013 | Jeffrey Milarsky |
| 2012 | George Manahan |
| 2011 | Alan Gilbert |
| 2010 | Osmo Vänskä |
| 2009 | James Levine |
| 2008 | Robert Spano |
| 2007 | Gil Rose |
| 2006 | David Robertson |
| 2005 | David Hoose |
| 2004 | Donald Portnoy |
| 2003 | David Alan Miller |
| 2002 | Joel Sachs |
| 2000 | James DePreist |
| 1999 | Christoph von Dohnanyi |
| 1998 | JoAnn Falletta |
| 1997 | David Zinman |
| 1996 | James Bolle |
| 1995 | Gustav Meier |
| 1994 | Gerhard Samuel |
| 1993 | Michael Tilson Thomas |
| 1992 | Herbert Blomstedt |
| 1991 | Christopher Keene |
| 1990 | Mstislav Rostropovich |
| 1989 | Gerard Schwartz |
| 1988 | Lawrence Leighton Smith |
| 1987 | Dennis Russell Davies |
| 1986 | Efrain Guigui |
| 1985 | Jorge Mester |
| 1984 | Leonard Slatkin |
| 1983 | Julius Hegyi |
| 1982 | Russell Patterson |
| 1981 | Michael Charry |
| 1980 | James A. Dixon |
| 1979 | Sergiu Commissiona |
| 1978 | Gregg Smith |
| 1977 | Eugene Ormandy |
| 1976 | Jose Serebrier |
| 1975 | Antal Dorati |
| 1974 | Lukas Foss |
| 1973 | Stanislaw Skrowaczewski |
| 1972 | Louis Lane |
| 1971 | Maurice Abravanel |
| 1970 | Gunther Schuller |
| 1969 | Frederick Fennell |
| 1968 | Alan Carter |
| 1967 | Igor Buketoff |
| 1966 | William Strickland |
| 1965 | Jacob Avshalomov |
| 1964 | Emerson Buckley |
| 1963 | Milton Katims |
| 1962 | Guy Frasier Harrison |
| 1961 | Richard Franko Goldman |
| 1960 | Richard Bales |
| 1959 | Julius Rudel |
| 1958 | Leonard Bernstein |
| 1957 | Howard Mitchell |
| 1956 | Victor Alessandro |
| 1955 | Robert Shaw |
| 1954 | David Broekman |
| 1953 | Walter Hendl |
| 1952 | Robert Whitney |
| 1950 | Isler Solomon |
| 1949 | Thor Johnson |
| 1948 | Dean Dixon |
| 1947 | Alfred Wallenstein |
| 1946 | Leon Barzin |
| 1945 | Howard Hanson |