This prize and the RPS-Duet Young Composer Prize ran for two years between 2016-2017.

At the time of winning the prize, Marie Sato was studying with Simon Channing and Gitte Marcusson. Since 2009, she was a student at the Royal College of Music Junior Department, where she has won first prize in numerous competitions including the Gordon Turner Memorial Competition and the Peter Morrison Concerto Competition which led to her performing the Lowell Liebermann Flute Concerto with the Junior Department Symphony Orchestra. In 2018, she was set to commence her studies with Adam Walker at the Royal College of Music itself.

She has been a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, becoming its principal flute at the age of 15. She was a Woodwind category finalist in both the 2016 and 2018 BBC Young Musician Competition. Marie has given recitals across the UK at venues including the Elgar Room, Royal Albert Hall and has performed with the National Youth Orchestra in the BBC Proms multiple times.