Nominees Announced For The 5th Avenue Theatre Awards

The 5th Avenue Theatre is thrilled to announce the nominees for the 17th annual 5th Avenue Theatre Awards: Honoring High School Musicals, the highly anticipated award show proudly sponsored by Wells Fargo with additional support from Alaska Airlines. Visit our blog for a complete list of nominees.

The 5th Avenue Theatre Awards allow musical theater students from across Washington State to meet, celebrate and honor the exceptional musical theater productions presented during the 2018/19 school year. This Tony Awards-style annual ceremony was created by 5th Avenue Theatre Producing Artistic Director Bill Berry in 2003 to offer theater students the kind of support and recognition that accomplished high school athletes have received for decades.

Each year, high schools from across Washington State submit their musicals for consideration by The 5th Avenue Awards Committee. A panel of acclaimed theater professionals selected by the committee visits high school productions across the state from urban districts to rural communities as far away as Spokane, Sequim, Clarkston and Vancouver. Evaluators return in May to deliberate the nominations before the live award ceremony on June 3, 2019.

In 17 years, the program has grown in size and scope from 24 productions and 3,100 students to a record-setting 128 productions at 106 schools this year, with more than 11,000 participating students. This eagerly awaited event features performances from the most talented students in the region. Celebrity guests and thought leaders from the Seattle community will present awards to recipients throughout the evening. This year, nearly 2,050 high school students are expected to attend the ceremony, with nominated students and schools performing excerpts from their shows. These talented students will truly get a taste of what it's like to perform in front of a packed house.

For the 2018/19 high school musical theater season, 167 nominations and 178 honorable mentions were given in various categories. The 21 categories include awards for "Outstanding Actor" and "Outstanding Actress" and a variety of creative, design and offstage awards. This year, 30 special honors awards will be given for extraordinary student achievements and schools whose productions create an educational impact beyond the stage. The 5th also continues the tradition of honoring outstanding educators with special recognition. And as in years past, the recipients of the award for "Outstanding Actor" and "Outstanding Actress" will go on to represent Washington State at the national level for the National High School Musical Theater Awards (known as the "Jimmy" Awards) in New York City.

The 5th Avenue Theatre Awards celebrates the work, talent and commitment that students, parents and faculty devote to their high school's annual musical productions. Over the years, multiple schools have reported back to The 5th that their involvement in this awards program has significantly helped their individual efforts to secure funding, improve curriculum and increase student participation.

The 5th could not maintain and continue a program as extensive as this one without the generous support of Wells Fargo, the long-standing sponsor of The 5th Avenue Theatre Awards for the past 15 years. In 2018, Wells Fargo invested $3.3 million in hundreds of nonprofits and schools across Washington. In addition, Washington team members personally donated $761,500 and volunteered 32,200 hours of community service. Wells Fargo has 3,200 team members in Washington who serve customers through a network of 188 banking, mortgage and investment offices, and 243 ATMs, in 76 communities across the state. See how Wells Fargo is caring for our Washington communities.

The 5th would also like to thank Alaska Airlines, whose support makes it possible to send the recipients of the "Outstanding Actor" and "Outstanding Actress" awards to New York to participate in the National High School Musical Theater Awards following the awards ceremony at The 5th Avenue Theatre.

"Alaska Airlines is proud to support The 5th Avenue Theatre Awards by helping these talented youth travel to New York, where their accomplishments will be recognized at the national level," said Ann Ardizzone, VP of Supply Chain Management at Alaska Airlines and 5th Avenue Theatre Board Member.

Alaska Airlines, together with its regional partners, flies 44 million customers a year to 115 destinations with an average of 1,200 daily flights across the United States and to Mexico, Canada, and Costa Rica. With Alaska and Alaska Global Partners, customers can earn and redeem miles on flights to more than 900 destinations worldwide. Alaska Airlines recently received the J.D. Power award for customer satisfaction for the 11th consecutive year. In 2018, the airline donated $17 million to nonprofits and community organizations.

For a full list of our nominees, visit The 5th Avenue Theatre blog

The 5th Avenue Awards Ceremony will be broadcast in its entirety as a live webcast on Facebook. Please visit https://www.facebook.com/5thave/ on June 3 to watch. A pre-show live stream will begin at 6 PM. The live stream of the ceremony will begin at 7 PM.