This year has seen many excellent productions, making it difficult in all categories to select just a few for nominations. Additionally, we have had to remember that the CDA constitution and the Adjudicator Guidelines specify that ‘a group or society’ may request entry into the festival, not a collaboration. Therefore, when several groups work together, that production is not eligible for the ‘Company’ awards but only for individual trophies. We have done our best to uphold the CDA spirit: to applaud excellence, encourage talent and creativity – regardless of the group’s size – and to honour the work of everyone within the Cornwall amateur theatre community.

CDA AWARD FOR BEST SET IN A MUSICAL

• Falmouth Theatre Company ‘The Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein’

CHRISTINE WOOLF AWARD FOR FINE ENSEMBLE PLAYING – EITHER CATEGORY

• Threemilestone Amateur Dramatics Society Youth ‘Chat Room’

PAULA THORNTON AWARD FOR BEST COSTUMES IN A PLAY

• Gweek Players ‘In the Next Room’

CDA AWARD FOR BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – MUSICALS and PANTOMIMES

• Alice Waterfield as Paulette Buonufonte in ‘Legally Blonde the Musical’ St Austell Amateur Operatic Society

EILEEN STRATTON TROPHY FOR BEST SET IN A PLAY

• Gweek Players ‘In the Next Room’

MARY DOWNIE AWARD FOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A PLAY

• Jim Robinson as Will Fern in ‘The Chimes’ Carnon Downs Drama Group

CAROL TAYLOR AWARD FOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A PLAY

• Bex Rogers as Stella Kowalski in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ St Austell Players

CDA AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING COSTUMES IN A MUSICAL or PANTOMIME

• St Stephen Pantomime Company ‘Aladdin’

SALLY ROBINSON TROPHY FOR OUTSTANDING MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

• Charlie Clough Musical Director and pianist in ‘The Little Mermaid’ Trewoon Pantomime Group 

ROY CROSLEY AWARD FOR A YOUNG ACTOR OF 18 OR UNDER – EITHER CATEGORY

• Emma Spence as Tommy Cat in St Blazey Amateur Operatic Society ‘Dick Whittington’

PEPPER AWARD FOR BEST ONE ACT PLAY

• TOUCH Theatre ‘Sea Wall’

CDA AWARD FOR BEST CHOREOGRAPHY IN A MUSICAL or PANTOMIME

• St Blazey Amateur Operatic Society ‘Dick Whittington’

JOHN WALTON AWARD FOR THE BEST YOUTH PERFORMANCE

• Thivinya Samarawickrama as William in ‘Chat Room’ Threemilestone Amateur Dramatics Society Youth

RICHARD POULTER TROPHY FOR BEST ACTOR IN A PLAY

• David Carlisle as Stage Manager in ‘Our Town’ St Agnes Theatre Players

EILEEN STRATTON TROPHY FOR BEST ACTRESS IN A PLAY

• Lara Salter as Marianne in ‘Constellations’ St Agnes Players

PAMELA DINSMORE AWARD FOR TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT IN EITHER CATEGORY

• Helston Theatre Company ‘Cinderella’ the flying coach

CDA AWARD FOR BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

• Jonathan Tucker as Jean Valjean in ‘Les Miserables’

CDA AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

• Charlotte Laity as Fantine in ‘Les Miserables’
• Grace Wallen as Eponine in ‘Les Miserables’

CDA Award for Outstanding Performance in a Pantomime

• Chris Gray as Widow Twankey in ‘Aladdin’

DORIS BERRYMAN TROPHY FOR BEST DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL

• Ashley Spear for ‘The Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein’

FRED SHEPHERD TROPHY FOR BEST DIRECTOR OF A PLAY

• Kathy Morris for ‘Constellations’

FREDDIE ROWE AWARD

• Phil Barnett B.E.M.

CHRIS HANSELL AWARD FOR BEST PANTOMIME

• Trewoon Pantomime Group ‘The Little Mermaid’

CDA TROPHY FOR BEST PLAY

• Gweek Players ‘In the Next Room’

CDA TROPHY FOR BEST MUSICAL PRODUCTION

• St Austell Amateur Operatic Society ‘Legally Blonde the Musical’

SPECIAL AWARDS

• Sticker Village Players for clever props: the villain’s pasty conveyor belt, the mechanical digger on the A30 everlasting roadworks, and the enormous knitted turnip!
• Ruthern Valley Players for some really first class scenery painting
• Karnon Kidz for the delightful snowman and reindeer puppets in Frozen Jnr
• The Director in Les Miserables on finding a creative and also a moving way to get dead bodies off the stage using Spirits.
• The amazing prison dance routine in Legally Blonde with so many members of the cast combined faultless complicated skipping moves with apparently effortless singing!
• The set design for Les Miserables, turning a bridge over the Seine into a realistic and complex barricade.
• St Austell AOS for the canine puppets in Legally Blonde, and for the self-effacing discipline of the puppeteer.
• The Thenadiers in Les Miserables for combining real nastiness with perfectly timed humour in two brilliant performances.
• The Ugly Sisters in Roche Pantomime Players Cinderella for a dynamic, risque comedy duo that had the audience in stitches.