The ASSITEJ Awards Ceremony was held on Friday, May 26th, and was an opportunity to acknowledge the pioneers and leaders working in the field who have made significant contributions to Theatre for Young Audiences.
To honour and celebrate all their accomplishments, awardees were presented with certificates, as well as ‘Heart Maps’ created by young people from Lalela, a local Educational Arts group. The awards were presented alongside speeches from Ms Rosemary Mangope (CEO of South Africa’s National Arts Council), Mr Sven Gatz (Flemish Minister for Culture, Media, Youth and Brussels Affairs) and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schneider (Honorary President of ASSITEJ International).
The award categories and winners were as follows:
Write Local Play Global Inspirational Playwright Award 2017
Kevin Dyer (UK)
Rene Fernandez Santana (Cuba)
Suzanne Lebeau (Canada)
Artistic Excellence Award 2017
Honourable Mention: Nadezhda Alexeeva (Russia)
Winner: Mattias Andersson (Sweden)
Winner: Johan de Smet (Belgium)
Applause Award for Lifetime Achievement
Carlos Herans Diaz (Spain)
Dr Razi Amitai (Israel)
Dr Christel Hoffmann (Germany)
*Photo Credits: Dialogue and Thembile Tshuma.
