National Musical Theatre Awards
NHSMTA®, otherwise known as The National High School Musical Theatre Awards®, was established in 2009 by Pittsburgh CLO and Nederlander Alliances, a division of The Nederlander Organization, to elevate the importance of theatre arts education in schools and reward excellence in student performance. The program impacts over 140,000 students annually who participate in high school musical theatre competitions sponsored by over forty professional theatres throughout the US (get a list of participating theatres).
Since its inception, NHSMTA has been the catalyst for more than $4,000,000 in educational scholarships awarded to deserving young performers. Also known as The Jimmy Awards®, named for Broadway impresario James M. Nederlander, this year-round program is administered by The Broadway League Foundation Inc.The Jimmy Award is given to the top high school performances by actors and actresses. Finalists at regional competitions are considered for the national award.
How do I get started? Click here.
How do I expand this narrative arc? If music is core to your high school experience, consider expanding and deepening your arc with one of these:
want to take your love of musical theatre to the next level? Try your hand at creating musical theatre in the Musical Theatre Songwriting Competition
spend the summer at the prestigious Berklee School of Music
Head to the “other Berkeley” and take an amazing summer course at U.C. Berkeley entitled Music in American Cultures
If your school offers the ability to do an independent study or a National History Day project, consider doing a research project on famous musicians influences on culture or conflicts, or even one of these historical figures, using some material from in the letters you transcribe. Note: these letters are Primary Sources for historical research purposes which makes any such research project even more impressive!
Consider doing a community impact project that involves music or folk music, like doing a nostalgia playlist for seniors in a home. Music from your youth has proved to be of huge therapeutic benefit to seniors and a project like this could have a real impact. See our PDF for Executing a Community Impact Project, which has step by step instructions on how to execute a project like this.
Spend your next summer learning more about music business at the Clive Davis School of Music at Tisch.
Compete at one of the YoungArts Performance Competitions
Win prize money in the National Music Club competitions