Siminovitch Prize | |
---|---|
Awarded for | Best in Canadian theatre |
Country | Canada |
Presented by | Siminovitch Prize Foundation ![]() |
First awarded | 2001 |
Website | https://www.siminovitchprize.com/ |
The Siminovitch Prize is Canada's largest theatre award recognizing excellence in mid-career directors, playwrights and designers. $100,000 is awarded annually to recipients.
Anyone may nominate a qualified candidate for the Prize, and winners are selected by a jury made up of prominent theatre professionals. Nominees must be a professional director, playwright, or designer who, in the preceding 10 years, has made a significant creative contribution to no fewer than three noteworthy theatre projects in Canada. [1]
A condition of the award is that one quarter of the prize (CAD$25,000) must be awarded to an emerging artist "Protégé" selected by the winner. [1] [2] The Protégé must be an individual involved in professional direction, playwriting, or design in Canadian theatre. [3] The winner may choose to grant the amount to a single Protégé or divide it between two eligible Protégés. Three finalists also receive CAD$5,000.
Formally, the Elinore & Lou Siminovitch Prize in Theatre, the Siminovitch Prize was launched in 2000 to honour the values and achievements of the distinguished scientist Louis ("Lou") Siminovitch and his late wife Elinore Siminovitch who was a pioneering playwright. A group of Dr. Siminovitch’s friends and colleagues came together on the occasion of his 80th birthday to create this award . [4] Twelve individuals and six organizations founded the prize; primary amongst them was the prize's largest financial sponsor, the BMO Financial Group. [1] [5]
In March 2012, BMO announced that the 12th edition of the prize would be its last. [6] In an interview one of the prize's founders, Joseph Rotman, he stated that the Siminovitch Prize was never conceived to run in perpetuity. [7] However, in July 2013, new financial supporters were secured resulting in the revival of the Siminovitch Prize. [8] The Prize has continued ever since, under the direction of the Siminovitch Prize Foundation, funded annually by individual donors and corporate sponsors. [8]
The recipients of the Siminovitch Prize since its inception are: [1] [9]
The protégé recipients of the Siminovitch prize are:
The Bank of Montreal is a Canadian multinational investment bank and financial services company.
Daniel MacIvor is a Canadian actor, playwright, theatre director, and film director. He is probably best known for his acting roles in independent films and the sitcom Twitch City.
Louis Siminovitch was a Canadian molecular biologist. He was a pioneer in human genetics, researcher into the genetic basis of muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis, and helped establish Ontario programs exploring genetic roots of cancer.
The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June 2020. In addition to the annual festival, Hot Docs owns and operates the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, administers multiple production funds, and runs year-round screening programs including Doc Soup and Hot Docs Showcase.
Brigitte Haentjens, is a Canadian theatre director and president of her own company, Sybillines, which she founded in 1997. She is currently the Artistic Director at Canada's National Arts Centre French Theatre in Ottawa.
Kathryn Shaw is a Canadian director, actor, and writer living in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. From 1985 to 2020 she was the Artistic Director of Studio 58, an acting and production training school at Langara College.
Daniel Brooks was a Canadian theatre director, actor, and playwright. He was well known in the Toronto theatre scene for his innovative productions and script-writing collaborations.
Tony Nardi is a Canadian actor, playwright, and theatre director based in Toronto, who has performed on stage and in film and television.
Hannah Moscovitch is a Canadian playwright who rose to national prominence in the 2000s. She is best known for her plays East of Berlin, This Is War, "Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story", and Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes, for which she received the 2021 Governor General's Award for English-language drama.
David Yee is a Canadian actor and playwright. His play lady in the red dress was a shortlisted nominee for the Governor General's Award for English language drama at the 2010 Governor General's Awards. His play carried away on the crest of a wave won this award at the 2015 Governor General's Awards.
Anusree Roy is a Canadian award-winning writer of plays, television, film and libretto. She is also an actress.
The Carol Bolt Award is an annual Canadian literary award. Presented by the Playwrights Guild of Canada, the award is bestowed for a theatrical play premiere by a PGC member, judged to be the year's best. The award is named in memory of Canadian playwright, Carol Bolt.
Jillian Keiley is a Canadian theater director.
Joan MacLeod is a Canadian playwright. She is best known for her award-winning plays of the 1990s, particularly Amigo's Blue Guitar (1990) and The Hope Slide (1993).
Electric Company Theatre is a professional theatre company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Greg MacArthur is a Canadian playwright. A graduate of Ryerson University's theatre school, he is known for plays including girls! girls! girls!, Snowman, Get Away, Recovery, Tyland, The Toxic Bus Incident and The Missionary Position.
Olivier Choinière is a Canadian playwright from Granby, Quebec. He is most noted as a three-time nominee for the Governor General's Award for French-language drama, receiving nominations at the 1998 Governor General's Awards for Le Bain des raines, at the 2006 Governor General's Awards for Venise-en-Québec, and at the 2013 Governor General's Awards for Nom de domaine.
Martin Bellemare is a Canadian playwright. He is most noted for his plays Le chant de Georges Boivin, which won the Prix Gratien-Gélinas in 2009, and Cœur minéral, which won the Governor General's Award for French-language drama at the 2020 Governor General's Awards.
Christine Quintana is a Canadian actor, playwright and theatre director from Vancouver, British Columbia, whose play Selfie was a nominee for the Governor General's Award for English-language drama at the 2021 Governor General's Awards.
Tara Beagan is a Nlakaʼpamux playwright and actress from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, most noted as the winner of the Siminovitch Prize in Theatre in 2020.