Following the IW Amateur Theatre Awards a couple of weeks ago, the very first IW Youth Theatre Awards, recognising the talent of Isle of Wight theatre performers under the age of 18, were held at the Jenny Kerry Performing Arts Centre at Ryde School on 30th March.
Yes – that Mother’s Day – and there were some very proud mums in the audience, cheering on their offspring as they collected awards for their performances in 2024.
It was great to see so many representatives of schools and youth theatre groups coming together to celebrate their achievements, with around 50 individual awards being presented to young actors, dancers and singers, along with 12 show awards, including Best Singing and Choreography, Best Audience Engagement; Technical Involvement Award and Most Innovative Use of Theatre Techniques. It was also delightful to see the support across the theatre groups, with everyone genuinely proud of each other’s achievements.
Guest presenters were mainly drawn from those who had received recognition at the adult awards this year, alongside Simon Dabell, who initiated the return of the IW Theatre Awards, and Elspeth Giddens, of IW Story Festival, who invited and encouraged young people to get involved in the planning of next year’s event.
Headline show winners were TheatreTrain’s ‘Chicago’ – Best Principal Cast; Curtain Call Creative’s ‘Sweeney Todd’ – Best Ensemble and ‘West Side Story’, staged by Ryde School, which won Best Show.
There were Bronze ,Silver and Gold awards for individual performances: Gold Awards were presented to Enid Rees, Finley Revert, George Sales, Lottie Paine, Olivia Hughes, Sash James and Tom Thorne.
Congratulations to all our individual award winners – for any performer to receive an award, at least one of our judges has rated their performance as Outstanding or better, and huge congratulations to all the adults and young people involved in all the shows receiving awards.
It was noted that the support, guidance and training provided by the teachers and theatre group leaders is invaluable, and the hard work and commitment of the adults and young people alike is what makes for the incredibly high standard of the performances and shows being celebrated. The future of theatre on the Island is in excellent hands.
