Winners for The Stage Debut Awards announced including Sadie Sink, Ava Pickett and more

The winners for the 2026 Stage Debut Awards, in association with Netflix, have been revealed. 

The event recognises performers and creatives making professional and West End debuts across UK theatre.

The annual awards celebrate emerging talent across performance and creative disciplines, with nominees recognised for work in the West End, on tour and at venues across the UK.

The winners and nominees in full are:

Best Performer in a Play

• Robert Aramayo – Guess How Much I Love You? (Royal Court Theatre, London) – WINNER
• Zoë Armer – The Virgins (Soho Theatre, London) – WINNER
• Noah Jupe – Romeo and Juliet (Harold Pinter Theatre, London)
• Assa Kanouté – Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare’s Globe, London)
• Erin Kellyman – Evening All Afternoon (Donmar Warehouse, London)
• Dylan Malyn – To Kill a Mockingbird (Leeds Playhouse and UK tour)
• Ruaridh Mollica – Clarkston (Trafalgar Theatre, London)
• Amber van der Brugge – Vincent in Brixton (Orange Tree Theatre, London)

Best Performer in a Musical

• Jess Douglas-Welsh – Redcliffe (Southwark Playhouse Borough, London)
• Jess Folley – Burlesque (Savoy Theatre, London)
• Lydia Louise – Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Watermill Theatre, Newbury)
• Julianne Pundan – Miss Saigon (Palace Theatre, Manchester and UK tour) – WINNER
• James Spence – Thespians (Mercury Theatre, Colchester and UK tour) – WINNER
• Sheridan Townsley – Sing Street (Lyric Hammersmith, London)

Best Writer

• Chris Ashworth-Bennion – The Red Rogue of Bala (Theatr Clwyd, Mold)
• Georgie Dettmer – Are You Watching? (Royal Court Theatre, London) – WINNER
• Hannah Doran – The Meat Kings! (Inc.) of Brooklyn Heights (Park Theatre, London)
• Leo Drayton – Dynolwaith (Sherman Theatre, Cardiff)
• Fran Kranz – Mass (Donmar Warehouse, London)
• John Morton – Eclipse (Chichester Festival Theatre)
• Jack Nicholls – The Shitheads (Royal Court Theatre, London)
• Danielle Phillips – Children of the Night (Cast, Doncaster)

Best Director

• Douglas Clarke-Wood – THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME. (Summerhall, Edinburgh)
• Ralph Fiennes – As You Like It (Theatre Royal Bath)
• Tommaso Giacomin – The Uncontainable Nausea of Alec Baldwin (New Diorama Theatre, London) – WINNER
• Michelle McTernan – Hop – The Hopeful Hare (Swansea Grand Theatre)

Best Designer

• Lev Govorovski and Ted Walliker (set and lighting design) – RON (Riverside Studios, London)
• Alex Mullins (costume design) – Teeth ‘n’ Smiles (Duke of York’s Theatre, London)
• Natalie Roar (costume design) – Les Liaisons Dangereuses (National Theatre, London) – WINNER

Best Composer, Lyricist or Book Writer

• John Carney and Gary Clark (music and lyrics) – Sing Street (Lyric Hammersmith, London)
• Jordan Luke Gage (book, music and lyrics) – Redcliffe (Southwark Playhouse Borough, London) – WINNER
• Guido García Lueches and Sergio Antonio Maggiolo (book, music and lyrics) – Jeezus! (Underbelly Cowgate, Edinburgh and New Diorama Theatre, London)
• Ed Zanders (music and lyrics) – Thespians (Mercury Theatre, Colchester and UK tour)

Best Creative West End Debut

• Finn den Hertog (director) – The Fifth Step (@sohoplace)
• Tom Fletcher (composer and lyricist) – Paddington the Musical (Savoy Theatre)
• Rachel Joyce (book) and Passenger (composer and lyricist) – The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Theatre Royal Haymarket)
• Ava Pickett (writer) – 1536 (Ambassadors Theatre) – WINNER

Best West End Debut Performer

• Levi Brown – Cyrano de Bergerac (Noël Coward Theatre)
• Brendan Gleeson – The Weir (Harold Pinter Theatre)
• Liv Hill – 1536 (Ambassadors Theatre)
• Noah Jupe – Romeo and Juliet (Harold Pinter Theatre)
• Cormac McAlinden – Inter Alia (Wyndham’s Theatre)
• Ntombizodwa Ndlovu – Marie and Rosetta (@sohoplace)
• Alistair Nwachukwu – The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (@sohoplace)
• Kate Phillips – The Weir (Harold Pinter Theatre)
• Arti Shah – Paddington the Musical (Savoy Theatre)
• Sadie Sink – Romeo and Juliet (Harold Pinter Theatre) – WINNER