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Awards

It is impossible to make a definitive list of awards in Canada, as awards (national, provincial, regional) come and go and their importance is expressed in different ways (only one of which is longevity). But an award that may have only lasted a few years (ie: The Clifford E. Lee Award for Playwrights) may have made a difference in the number of careers it launched or revitalized.

Awards in Canada are sometimes a contentious and touchy business. When commercial enterprises are given tax breaks for such things, commercial awards are born, and then, with tax breaks gone, die. There are also the internecine wars of the theatre community itself: a case in point are the awards once handed out by the Quebec critics' circle. When the theatre community decided that some of the critics were just too rough on the artists, they boycotted these prizes. The prizes soon died, the community formed its own prize (handed out each year in the Masques Awards); the critics re-evaluated and decided to give one award for best production each in Quebec City and Montreal.

Are theatre awards important? In many cases, yes. They promote careers, plays, theatres; and acknowledge excellence.

Awards profiles in www.canadiantheatre.com are: The Chalmers Awards; The Clifford E. Lee Awards for Playwrights; Dora Mavor Moore Awards Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Awards (Sterling Awards); Governor General’s Award (for playwrights and in the performing arts); Ottawa Little Theatre (sponsor of the Canadian One Act Playwriting Competition); Masques Awards. In 2019, the Winnipeg Theatre Awards were renamed "The Evies", after Winnipeg actor and theatre pioneer Evelyne Anderson who died at the age of 87. She was the first recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.

Last updated 2020-02-27