The Carl Bechstein Foundation promotes not only the general public, but also particularly gifted young musicians. Children and youth with a strong interest in piano playing receive long-term support from the Foundation in cooperation with various bodies that organize concerts and music competitions.

To this aim, the Carl Bechstein Foundation grants special prizes at a series of competitions. Moreover, it awards four scholarships every three years to particularly talented young pianists. And as young musicians need not only financial support, but also opportunities to perform, the Foundation developed appropriate cooperative ventures to boost the careers of the prizewinners and scholarship recipients. The Jugend musiziert competition is a good example of such ventures. With a history of fifty years, this event is organized at regional and national levels by several musical institutions: Deutscher Tonkünstlerverband (DTKV), Verband deutscher Musikschulen (VdM), Jeunesses Musicales Deutschland (JMD) and Verband deutscher Schulmusiker (VDS). The Foundation awards talented young pianists special prizes at regional level and prizes complemented by scholarships at national level. Another competition is the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb that the German Music Council has been organizing for over forty years to promote young musicians. In this case, the Carl Bechstein Foundation awards a special prize to a particularly talented pianist on recommendation of the jury. Furthermore, the Foundation also awards special prizes at the following competitions: Internationaler Carl Maria von Weber Klavierwettbewerb Dresden, ARD Musikwettbewerb, Internationaler Klavierwettbewerb Jugend in Essen (formerly Rotary Klavierwettbewerb), Theodor Leschetizky Wettbewerb Hamburg, Maritim Musikwettbewerb and Internationaler Klavierwettbewerb ClaviCologne.

As mentioned above, the prizes awarded by the Carl Bechstein Foundation always include money and various performance opportunities.