The Robert Schumann International Competition for Pianists and Singers was constituted in 1956 in East Berlin within the framework of the commemorations on the 100th anniversary of Robert Schumann's death. A second edition was organized on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth, and three years later a third edition was arranged in Zwickau, his birthplace.[1] The competition, a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions,[2] has taken place in Zwickau every 3 or 4 years since.[3]
| 1956 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize (ex-a.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annerose Schmidt | Irina Sijalova |  Lidia Grychtołówna | |
| Mikhail Voskresensky | |||
| 1960 | No piano category | No piano category | No piano category |
| 1963 | 1st prize | 2nd prize (ex-a.) | 3rd prize |
| Nelly Akopyan |  Rutka Carakcieva |  Aniko Szegedi | |
| 1966 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize (ex-a.) |
| Eliso Virsaladze | Raina Padareva | ||
| Evgenia Sachareva | |||
| 1969 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| Dezső Ránki | Tatyana Ryumina |  Okitaka Uehara | |
| 1974 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| Pavel Egorov |  Petru Grossmann | ||
| 1977 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| Emma Tahmizian | Dana Borşan | Christoph Taubert | |
| 1981 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize (ex-a.) |
 Yves Henry | Kalle Randalu | ||
| Balázs Szokolay | |||
| 1985 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| Tamriko Siprashvili | Mzija Gogashvili | ||
| 1989 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| Éric Le Sage | Sachiko Yonekawa | Alexander Melnikov | |
| 1993 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
 Temirzhan Yerzhanov | Eiji Shigaki |  Corrado Rollero | |
| 1996 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize (ex-a.) |
| Mikhail Mordvinov | Lyubov Gegechkori | ||
 Christian Seibert | |||
| 2000 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| Kiai Nara |  Ulugbek Palvanov | Andrea Rebaudengo | |
| 2004 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| Akiko Yamamoto | Nicolas Bringuier |  Soojin Ahn | |
| 2008 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| Mizuka Kano | Akiko Nikami | Da Sol Kim | |
| 2012 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
 Aljoša Jurinić |  Florian Noack | Luca Buratto | |
| 2016 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| not awarded | Tomoyo Umemura |  Tiffany Poon | |
 Cheng Zhang | Maiko Ami | ||
| 1956 | 1st prize (ex-a.) | 2nd prize (ex-a.) | 3rd prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kira Isotova | Dan Iordăchescu | ||
| Aleksander Vedernikov | Jiří Bar | ||
| 1960 | 1st prize | 2nd prize (ex-a.) | 3rd prize (ex-a.) |
| Vitali Gromadski | Wolfgang Hellmich | Sylvia Geszty | |
| Roman Horák | Violanta Sirotinina | ||
| 1963 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| Karl Heinz Stryczek | Evgeni Isakov | Friederike Apelt | |
| 1966 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| Ionel Pantea |  Julia Albonico | Jürgen Hartfiel | |
| 1969 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| Ladies | Heidi Berthold-Riess | Georgina Orlovschi | |
| Gentlemen | Ruben Lisician | Peter Tschaplik | Siegfried Lorenz |
| 1974 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| Ladies | Mitsuko Shirai | Violetta Madjarova | |
| Gentlemen | Lászlo Polgár | Sergej Lejferkus | Mihai Zamfir |
| 1977 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| Ladies |  Edith Wiens | Mary Ann Hart | Jana Mrázová |
| Gentlemen | Boris Mareskin | Alibek Dnisev | Christoph Rösel |
| 1981 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| Ladies | not awarded | Constanza Mestes | Györgyi Benza (Ex aequo) |
| Nadja Cvetkova (Ex aequo) | |||
| Gentlemen | Jürgen Kurth | Andreas Scheibner | Matthias Weichert |
| 1985 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| Ladies | not awarded | Cornelia Wosnitza | Kirsten Bertkau |
| Gentlemen | Karsten Mewes | Egbert Junghanns | Thomas Mäthger |
| 1989 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| Ladies | not awarded | Angela Liebold (Ex aequo) | |
| Svetlana Sumaceva (Ex aequo) | |||
| Gentlemen | Frank Schiller | Torsten Frisch | |
| 1993 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| Ladies | not awarded | Asako Motojima | Barbara Hölzl (Ex aequo) |
| Fumiko Hatayama (Ex aequo) | |||
| Gentlemen | Locky Chung | Stefan Geyer | Raimond Spogis |
| 1996 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| Ladies | Risako Kurosawa |  Bodil Arnesen | |
| Gentlemen | Henryk Böhm | Hideki Kadoya | Marius Budoin |
| 2000 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| Ladies | Annette Dasch | Measha Brueggergosman | |
| Gentlemen | not awarded |  Klemens Geyrhofer | Kyu-Hee Cho |
| 2004 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| Ladies | not awarded | Stefanie Irányi (Ex aequo) | Julia Amos |
| Lydia Teuscher (Ex aequo) | |||
| Gentlemen | Colin Balzer | Daniel Wolfgang Johannsen | Peter McGillivray |
| 2008 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| Ladies | Anne-Theresa Albrecht |  Carolina Ullrich | Julia Hajnóczy (Ex aequo) |
| Sophie Harmsen (Ex aequo) | |||
| Gentlemen | Christoph Pohl (Ex aequo) | Jesse Blumberg | |
| Tomasz Wija (Ex aequo) | |||
| 2012 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| Ladies | Anna Lucia Richter |  Simone Easthope (Ex aequo) | |
| Annika Boos (Ex aequo) | |||
| Gentlemen |  Mauro Peter | Georg Gädker (Ex aequo) | not awarded |
| Sebastian Wartig (Ex aequo) | |||
| 2016 | 1st prize | 2nd prize | 3rd prize |
| Ladies | Henriette Gödde | Hiltrud Kuhlmann |  Hagar Sharvit |
| Gentlemen |  André Baleiro | Jean-Christophe Fillol | Jonathan Michie |