    EDUCATION NEWS  

2021 Jimmy Awards Winners Announced

BY LOGAN CULWELL-BLOCK
JUL 16, 2021
 

Students from 36 regions across the U.S. competed at

the streamed ceremony honoring the best in high school
musical theatre.

Bryson Battle and Elena Holder

Bryson Battle of Charlotte, North Carolina, and Elena Holder of Durham, North Carolina, won Best
Performance by an Actor and Actress, respectively, at the 2021 Jimmy Awards July 15 in a ceremony that saw
student performers from 36 regions across the country competing to be named the best in high school
musical theatre. Both will receive $25,000 scholarships to further their educations.

The entire ceremony, which features performances from all of the nominees, is available to stream in full
through July 18 at JimmyAwards.com.
Benjamin Brown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Justin Cooley of Kansas City, Missouri; Mateo Lizcano of New
York, New York; Victoria Evans of Seattle, Washington; Kuper Walker of Los Angeles, California; and Ava
Wolesky of Kansas City, Missouri, won $3,000 scholarships as nalists; $2,000 scholarships were awarded to
Best Dancer winner Kiara Geolina of San Diego, California; Rising Star winner Ben Gray of Memphis, Tennesse;
Best Performance in an Ensemble winner Brady McComas of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Spirit of the
Jimmys winner Kuper Walker of Los Angeles, California.

READ: Meet Some of the 2021 Jimmy Award Nominees... And Watch Them Dance

Semi nalist scholarships, which also included a $2,000 award, were bestowed on Tayor Garlick of Logan,
Utah; Parker Jackson of Dallas, Texas; William Morris of San Diego, California; Jaaziah Vallano of
Albuquerque, New Mexico; Naliah Hernandez of San Antonio, Texas; Rafaella Mark of Albuquerque, New
Mexico; Audrey Saucier of Omaha, Nebraska; and Katie Smith of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Cumulatively, 20 scholarships and awards were given out at the 2021 Jimmy Awards. Since its inception 12
years ago, the system has awarded more than $4,000,000 in educational scholarships.

Read Next from PLAYBILL

2021 Jimmy Awards Winners

Announced

2021 Jimmy Awards Ceremony

Announces Its 72 High School
Nominees

2021 Jimmy Awards Ceremony

Announces Its 72 High School
Nominees

This Article Continues Below Powered by Hindsight

The 2021 Jimmy Awards also honored the educators behind the 2019 student performance winners—there
were no awards given in 2020 due to the health crisis. As announced earlier this year, Katelin Ruzzamenti
Knight (of Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts in Salt Lake City, Utah) and Benjamin Pesenti (of Elmont
Memorial High School in Elmont, New York) received the 2021 Inspiring Teacher Awards.

The judge's panel for this year's honors included Kent Gash, Montego Glober, Brian Moreland, Alecia Parker,
Tara Rubin, Luis Salgado, Nick Scandalios, and Bernie Telsey. Preliminary judges included Pun Bandhu,
Rashad Chambers, Kristian Charbonier, Stephanie Klapper, Kevin Metzger-Timson, and Thom Sesma.

The ceremony was directed by Van Kaplan and choreographed by Kiesha Lalama, with Michael Moricz serving
as musical arranger and conductor and Mary Jane Brennan as writer. All four have been with the Jimmy
Awards since they began over a decade ago.
Named in honor of the late producer and theatre owner James M. Nederlander, the Jimmy Awards
traditionally see nominees from regional awards nationwide partaking in a week of events, workshops, and
master classes with industry professionals in New York City, culminating in a nal ceremony on a Broadway
stage where the nominees compete with performances to earn the top titles and 20 college scholarships.
Both the nal performance and the week of coaching, rehearsals, and other activities were held online in
2021, a move that follows the cancellation of last year's awards entirely.

This year's ceremony also featured eight student reporters who sat in for online sessions and rehearsals. The
reporters created a series of videos offering rst-hand reporting on the nominee experience and preparations
for the nal ceremony. Student reporters also met with industry professionals to learn from their experience
and advice.

Past Jimmy Award winners include Andrew Barth Feldman and Renée Rapp, both of whom quickly moved on
to Broadway careers. Feldman, most recently seen in Ratatouille: The TIkTok Musical, starred on Broadway in
the title role of Dear Evan Hansen, while Rapp was the nal Regina George in Mean Girls on Broadway.

Click Here to Shop for Theatre

Merchandise in the Playbill Store

SIGN UP FOR THE PLAYBILL POST!

Sign up for the Playbill Post to receive the top stories every morning and evening.
SI
Email Address

EDUCATION NEWS