(This document was updated on January 18, 2010)

1. Mandate
2. Definitions
3. Production Eligibility
4. Award Categories
5. Jury Procedures
6. Nomination and Voting Procedures

Mandate

To host an annual celebration which aims to encourage and promote locally produced, professional theatre work and its artists. The intent of the project is to foster local work, increase awareness and improve communication among artists thereby establishing a greater sense of community.

The determination of the awards will be made by a selective committee of peers.

Definitions

Awards Consideration Year

January 1 through December 31

Nomination Period

Ongoing during the consideration year, with a formal nomination process to take place before January 15 of the year following a consideration year.

Nomination Announcement

A final list of nominations must be made available for public release by February 15 of the year following a consideration year.

Nomination Event

An annual press conference, held to announce annual nominations, no later than March of the year following a nomination year.

Professional: Individual Artists

In cases where individual artists are not members of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association (CAEA) or Union des Artistes (UdA), the term "professional" is based on the definition emplyed by the Canada Council for the Arts:

• specialized training in the field (not necessarily in academic institutions)
• recognition by one’s peers (artists who work in the same artistic tradition)
• a commitment to devoting more time to one’s artistic activity, if financially feasible, and
• a history of public presentation.

Professional: Production Companies

In the case of production companies or theatre collectives that do not engage artists under existing CAEA or UdA agreements, the following criteria are applied in order to determine "professional" status:

1. Performers, artists and designers must be paid for their work, even if this payment takes the form of a profit-share or honorarium.  If requested, productions operating under this kind of arrangement must supply documentation, signed by all participating artists, confirming the nature of the profit-share or payment arrangement.
2. Unpaid participation of actors-in-training or emerging artists is permitted, so long as a minimum of 50%+1 of all company members (including designers and technicians) are paid professionals.
3. If a production wishes to be considered as professional when it does not meet the criteria above, a written appeal may be made to the Steering Committee, whereupon a determination will be made on a case-by-case basis.

Voting Period

Ballots that jurors will use to vote for final awards recipients must be made available by February 15 of the year following an awards consideration year, and must be returned no later than March 30 of that year.

Production Eligibility

Awards consideration years run from January 1 through December 31.

The awards program operates on a policy of self-submission. Any production that wishes to be considered for awards purposes must notify the awards committee of their desire for consideration. An online submission is available through http://www.RideauAwards.ca/, but applications can also be mailed in (an application form is available here).

A submission form must be completed and submitted, along with a $20 administration fee, to the Ottawa Theatre Awards Committee. In addition, a minimum block of six and a maximum block of ten tickets must be made available to jury members so that they can attend the production. The submission form must be received 30 days before the first performance of the production, in order to allow time for the jury to arrange for adequate coverage of the production.

All productions must be considered “professional” according to the definition presented in the “Definitions” section. Examples of eligible productions include those that engage artists under the terms of CAEA’s existing agreements (ITA, CTA, Indie, Small Theatre Addendum, Co-op agreement, etc.); profit-sharing arrangements, and (in cases where every possible effort is made is to remunerate artists) Fringe Festival productions.

In the case of profit-share or honoraria arrangements, support documentation (such as an agreement signed by company members outlining the details of the arrangement), must be provided.

Award Categories

Outstanding Production

Awarded to the locally-produced theatrical work with the highest overall score from jury members.

In order to be eligible for nomination, productions must be mounted in the Ottawa/Outaouais region, and must qualify as “professional” as defined in the Definitions section. This implies that the production is built locally, and rehearses locally. Joint productions will generally qualify under this definition as long as a portion of the production preparation (rehearsal, construction, etc.) is Ottawa-based.

Touring productions shall be deemed local if the “point of origin”, as determined by Canadian Actors’ Equity Association, is Ottawa. In the case of non-Equity productions, a joint production or touring production is deemed local to Ottawa if the bulk of set construction and rehearsal takes place in the Ottawa/Outaouais region.

Outstanding Fringe Production

Awarded to the locally-produced theatrical work, presented at the Ottawa Fringe Festival, with the highest overall score from jury members.

In order to be eligible for nomination, artists must be seen as “professional” as defined in the Definitions section.

Outstanding Direction

Awarded to the director of a locally-presented theatrical work that is also eligible for either the “Outstanding Production” or "Outstanding Fringe Production" award.

In order to be eligible for nomination, artists must be seen as “professional” as defined in the Definitions section.

Outstanding Performance -- Male

Awarded to a male performer appearing in a locally-presented theatrical work that is also eligible for either the “Outstanding Production” or "Outstanding Fringe Production" award.

In order to be eligible for nomination, artists must be seen as “professional” as defined in the Definitions section.

Outstanding Performance -- Female

Awarded to a female performer appearing in a locally-presented theatrical work that is also eligible for either the “Outstanding Production” or "Outstanding Fringe Production" award.

In order to be eligible for nomination, artists must be seen as “professional” as defined in the Definitions section.

Outstanding Lighting Design

Awarded to a lighting designer whose work appears in a locally-presented theatrical work that is also eligible for either the “Outstanding Production” or "Outstanding Fringe Production" award.

In order to be eligible for nomination, artists must be seen as “professional” as defined in the Definitions section.

Outstanding Set Design

Awarded to a set designer whose work appears in a locally-presented theatrical work that is also eligible for either the “Outstanding Production” or "Outstanding Fringe Production" award.

In order to be eligible for nomination, artists must be seen as “professional” as defined in the Definitions section.

Outstanding Costume Design

Awarded to a designer whose work appears in a locally-presented theatrical work that is also eligible for either the “Outstanding Production” or "Outstanding Fringe Production" award.

In order to be eligible for nomination, artists must be seen as “professional” as defined in the Definitions section.

Technical / Stage Management Award

Awarded to a stage manager who has worked on a locally-presented theatrical work that is also eligible for either the “Outstanding Production” or "Outstanding Fringe Production" award. Nominations may also be given to Assistant Stage Managers or crew members who have gone above and beyond the call of duty.
In order to be eligible for nomination, artists must be seen as “professional” as defined in the Definitions section.

Due to the nature of this award, it is not subject to the same jury-driven voting process as the other awards. See “Technical / Stage Management Award Nominations” in the “Nominations” section for more information.

Outstanding New Creation

Awarded to a theatre company or collective that has produced an original theatrical work, created by the company or collective, and which is also eligible for either the “Outstanding Production” or "Outstanding Fringe Production" award.  A production that is eligible for this award is not eligible for the Outstanding Adaptation award.

In order to be eligible for nomination, productions must premiere in the Ottawa/Outaouais region, and must be seen as “professional” as defined in the Definitions section.

Outstanding Adaptation

Awarded to a theatre company or collective that has produced a new adaptation, translation, or major re-envisioning of an existing story or theatrical work, and which is also eligible for either the “Outstanding Production” or "Outstanding Fringe Production" award.  A production that is eligible for this award is not eligible for the Outstanding New Creation award.

Emerging Artist Award

Awarded to an Ottawa or Outaouais-based artist of any theatrical discipline whose work has appeared in a locally-presented theatrical work that is eligible for either the “Outstanding Production” or "Outstanding Fringe Production" award, and who is deemed by the jury to be in the first five years of his or her professional theatre career.

In order to be eligible for nomination, artists must have a valid mailing address in the Ottawa/Outaouais region, and must be seen as “professional” as defined in the Definitions section.

Jury Procedures

Jury Selection

Jury nominations must be received by October 15 each year, with formal approaches to jury members made in early November. Jury members must be finalized by December 1 of each year.

Potential jury members are nominated both by members of the awards committee and members of the community at large, and are formally approached in the autumn of the year preceding the awards consideration year. Every attempt shall be made to ensure that jury nominations consist of local artistic professionals of varying ages, cultural and artistic backgrounds, disciplines, and interests.

From this formal approach, a jury of no less than ten and no more than fifteen local professionals is assembled. The make-up of the final jury is based on the number of positive responses from potential jury members, as well as a desire to ensure that the jury is as diverse as possible.

Jury selection must begin in October, with formal approaches to potential jury members made in early November. The jury must be finalized by December 1 of the year preceding an awards consideration year.

Jury members’ identities will not be intentionally publicized during the jury year.

Jury Term

Jury members serve for a period of one year, and may be nominated to serve as jurors for subsequent years, but must not serve as juror for more than three consecutive years.

Jury Duties

Jury members shall make every attempt to attend every production deemed eligible for awards consideration. No less than six jury members must attend each eligible theatrical event; attendance may occur at any time during the run of the production (i.e. jurors do not have to attend “opening night”).

Ticket stubs and theatrical programs must be kept so that attendance can be independently verified.

Jury members are required to sign a letter of agreement, confirming their understanding of their role, before attending productions as a juror.

In January of the year following a consideration year, the jury's ballots will be used to formalize a list of nominations and aard winners (see “Nomination and Voting Procedures”)

Conflict of Interest

The peer-assessed nature of this awards program will inevitably result in situations where conflicts of interest arise for members of the jury. Jury members are expected to declare possible conflicts of interest for any production where the following situations apply:

• the jury member is directly involved with (is receiving wages or honoraria, or has donated services-in-kind for) a production that is being considered for an award

It is recognized that this is a grey area. Situations not directly addressed by the criteria above may need to be handled on a case by case basis in consultation with the jury chair and the awards committee.

In situations where a conflict of interest has been declared, jurors will abstain from voting for productions and/or categories in which the conflict has been identified.

Secrecy

While the names of jurors will not be publicly released or formally announced outside members of the jury itself, it is assumed that the identities of jurors will become known to the community at large over time.

Jury Chair

One member of the jury shall be elected by the jury members to serve as the jury chair. The jury chair is responsible for:

• Liaising with the awards committee
• Maintaining a list of eligible productions
• Maintaining a list of jurors who have attended each production
• Ensuring that a minimum of six eligible jurors attend each qualifying production (an eligible juror is one who has not declared a conflict of interest)
• Coordinate any necessary meetings of the jury members

Awards Event

An annual celebration of Ottawa professional theatre, to be held in April or May of the year following an awards consideration year.

Nomination and Awards Voting Procedures

Nominations

Nominations for awards in any award category are open-ended and are put forth by jury members, provided that:

• nominees meet the eligibility criteria outlined in the Awards Categories section
• jurors do not nominate productions for which a conflict of interest has been identified

During the annual nomination process, jurors submit a ranked list of their preferred nominations for each of the award categories.

Jurors may not put forth nominations associated with productions that they did not see.

TNominations are submitted by secret ballot, wherein jury members rank up to five of their top preferred nominees.  There is no minimum number of nominations required (implying that jurors may choose to make NO nomination for a particulr award, in an extreme case).

Nominations are scored by the Rideau Awards accountant or accounting firm as follows:

• The juror’s first choice in each category is awarded five points
• The juror’s second choice in each category is awarded four points
• The juror’s third choice in each category is awarded three points
• The juror’s fourth choice in each category is awarded two points
• The juror’s fifth choice in each category is awarded one point

Final scores, which determine the award winners, are tabulated as follows:

• Each nominee’s total number of points is divided by the number of eligible jurors who attended the production in question in order to arrive at a final score
• In order for a nomination to stand, nominees must have been put forth by more than one juror
• Nominees are ranked according to score, in descending order
• The top-scored nominees form the final nomination list. There may be no less than two nominees for each category, and no more than five.
• The top-scored nominee will become the recipient of the award.
  

The list of final nominations is returned to the steering committee with nominees listed in alphabetical order, without final scores.  Final scores are kept in confidence until Awards Night, at which time the top-scoring nominee in each category is revealed as the award recipient.

Technical / Stage Management Award Nominations

Since it is impossible for a jury to assess this award based upon production attendance, nominations for the Technical / Stage Management award must come from theatre companies or collectives whose productions are under consideration. Each production may submit a letter of nomination to the awards committee outlining their recommended candidate and their reasons for nomination. These letters must be received by December 31 of the awards consideration year, and will be passed on to jury members as part of their awards ballot package. The jury will consider nominations based upon these letters of recommendation, and will vote on the nominees using the same scoring process outlined in "Nomination and Voting Procedures"