Great British Theatres Awards FAQs

Answers to frequently asked questions about the Great British Theatre Awards

If you have any questions before making your Great British Theatres Awards nomination, please read over these FAQs, which may answer them.

If your question isn’t answered, please get in touch with us via our contact form, selecting Events and we’ll come back to you with an answer as soon as possible.

Who can make a nomination?

Anyone is welcome to make a nomination, although to write a strong entry, you will need detailed knowledge of the building, space, local authority or individual (depending on the category) that you are nominating.

Can I nominate my own theatre?

Absolutely. In fact, we would encourage it. You will know your own theatre better than anyone else and will have the information needed to write a strong entry.

Can we nominate our theatre in more than one category?

Yes, you can nominate your theatre in multiple categories, but as each category has a different focus, you will need to write a different application for each one.

If more people nominate us, will we have a better chance of winning a Great British Theatres Award?

No, there is no advantage to there being more than one entry for your organisation in each category. This isn’t a public vote, and awards will be judged on the quality of the entry and the information provided, rather than the volume. If other people are keen to nominate you as well, perhaps you could come together to submit a collective, stronger application.

What additional information should we send as part of the application?

You can attach a pdf of up to six A4 pages of additional information with your entry. This could include photographs, plans, drawings or links to news articles or videos on your website / social media channels. Please do not send additional written evidence beyond your 500-word entry as part of this additional information.

We reserve the right to come back to you at a later date to ask for more information and shortlisted entries will be asked to provide high resolution images – but for now we want the entry process to be as simple as possible.

How will the entries be judged?

Entries will be assessed by our panel of expert judges, who have knowledge covering architecture and design, accessibility and inclusion, environmental sustainability, placemaking and theatre performance. Depending on the number of entries received, an initial longlist may be drawn up by Theatres Trust staff before going to the judging panel.

Shortlisting decisions will be made based on the information provided in the application, as well as our judges own knowledge. However, there may be cases where we need to come back to ask for further information or for clarification to be able to make a decision.

The judging panel will be bringing unbiased expertise to the task. If any of our judges do have a close connection with a nominated theatre, they will not be involved in judging that particular award category.

When will we find out if we’ve been shortlisted?

We will be announcing the Great British Theatres Awards shortlists in September. We will notify the shortlisted organisations and individuals before we make the public announcement.