The Stage Awards and The Stage 100 set to celebrate theatre's response to the pandemic

Plans have been announced for The Stage Awards and The Stage 100.

Rather than present the conventional awards, next year The Stage will re-focus and highlight those who have done an important amount of work during the pandemic. This year winners for The Stage Awards will be announced digitally and in print on January 7, 2021, alongside The Stage 100 list.

The Stage 100 recognises the top 100 influential figures in the industry, and this year will also be re-tooled to commend those that have helped the community during the pandemic.

Alistair Smith, editor of The Stage, says: "This has been a year unlike any other in theatre's history. We thought long and hard about whether it was appropriate to continue with our annual industry awards given the fact that for some organisations and individuals there has been little opportunity to stage much theatre in its traditional sense during 2020. However, we also believe it is important to celebrate the extraordinary efforts made by many in our industry to create work and keep theatre alive in extraordinarily difficult circumstances.

"To that end, we've decided to continue with both The Stage Awards and The Stage 100 this year, but both will be slightly altered to reflect the changed times we live in. We will not have shortlists for the awards – only winners – and The Stage 100 will not be a ranked power list, but will instead be purely celebratory. In this way, we will recognise the individuals and organisations who have gone above and beyond to fight for the future of theatre during this most difficult of years."

Categories for this year will include Regional Theatre of the Year, London Theatre of the Year, Fringe Theatre of the Year, Theatre Building of the Year, Producer of the Year, International Award, Innovation Award and Achievement in Technical Theatre.

Subscribers can submit nominations here.