Our program

The New Mexico High School Musical Theatre Awards recognizes individual and communal artistry in performance, and honors teachers and their schools’ commitment to performing arts education. We present these talented young performers with a unique opportunity to advance their education and careers in musical theatre, all while supporting the inclusion of musical theatre performance specifically and drama generally in our state's high schools.
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High school musical theatre helps students succeed academically, individually and socially. All our children should have the opportunity to participate in a theater program in their high school.

If you support our work, please make a contribution. Your donation will make a significant difference for high school drama programs in New Mexico.

How it works

​Our program works with high school drama programs across New Mexico to improve their productions and individual performances.

We send adjudicators to participating schools to review their musical theater productions and eligible individual performances. The adjudicators score the performances and productions based on our rubrics and write evaluations for the schools and for the adjudicated performers. Evaluations are sent to the schools for their use in further developing their program and the abilities of the students in them.

Enchantment Awards for Best Production, Best Direction, and Best Ensemble are determined from the scores given by our adjudicators, as are awards for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.
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Each nominee for Best Actor and Best Actress is ranked according to the adjudicators’ scores and the top ten males and the top ten females come to Albuquerque for a week to rehearse for our live show on Popejoy’s stage and to compete for those awards. It's like a mini-Tony Awards show for New Mexico theatre students.
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Winners of our Best Actor and Best Actress awards are sent to New York to participate in the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, a multi-day curriculum where students from nearly 50 similar programs across the country work with Broadway professionals and perform a show on a Broadway stage. The program, also known as the Jimmy Awards, gives scholarships to over a dozen students and affords all the students an opportunity to audition for some of the leaders in the industry.

Board of Directors

Wendy Barker, President
Lina Ramos, Secretary
Zane Barker
Megan McCormick
Laura Cummins Nuzum
Mark Pino
Robb Anthony Sisneros
Warren Wilgus

Co-Producers

Terry S. Davis
​Laura A. Maness

Photos by Max Woltman