New York, NY – July 13, 2021 – The Broadway League proudly announces that the 12^th Jimmy Awards® ceremony will be available to watch online on Thursday, July 15^th at 7:30PM ET. Fans can watch the virtual ceremony on Facebook and YouTube. Links will be available on JimmyAwards.com. The ceremony, hosted by Corbin Bleu with a special appearance from Mandy Gonzalez, will be presented entirely online and remain available for viewing for 72 hours ONLY, through Sunday, July 18, 2021.

The Jimmy Awards will feature an evening of dynamic ensemble and solo performances by the nation’s most talented high school musical theatre performers and will culminate with two students presented with a Best Performance by an Actress and Best Performance by an Actor award.

The Jimmy Awards are brought to you by The Broadway League Foundation.  Apples and Oranges Arts is the streaming and video production partner. The official media partner is WABC-TV. 

Additionally, the INSPIRING TEACHER AWARD presented by WELLS FARGO will be given to Katelin Ruzzamenti Knight, Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts, Salt Lake City, Utah and Benjamin Pesenti, Elmont Memorial High School, Elmont, NY. These teachers will be honored for the encouragement and inspiration that led their students to win the coveted Jimmy Award for Best Performance by an Actress and Best Performance by an Actor at the most recent past Jimmy Awards ceremony, in 2019.

Judges for the 2021 Jimmys are comprised of notable theatre professionals including Tony Award-winning producers, award-winning casting experts and industry professionals. Winners, finalists, and semifinalists will be selected by KENT GASH, MONTEGO GLOVER, BRIAN MORELAND, ALECIA PARKER, TARA RUBIN, LUIS SALGADO, NICK SCANDALIOS and BERNIE TELSEY. Preliminary judges who evaluated and cast nominees included PUN BANDHU, RASHAD CHAMBERS, KRISTIAN CHARBONIER, STEPHANIE KLAPPER, KEVIN METZGER-TIMSON, and THOM SESMA.

In 2021, all coaching, rehearsals, and activities took place online for the 72 nominees from 36 regions around the US. This year, a total of 20 awards and scholarships are available to participants. The program has been the catalyst for more than $4,000,000 in educational scholarships to date, and several previous student participants have been cast in Broadway, Touring and West End productions.

Student performers qualify for the national program by earning top honors at regional high school musical theatre awards ceremonies presented by Broadway League-member performing arts centers. Each year, more than 100,000 students participate in these events. For more information about this and the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, please visit JimmyAwards.com. Follow the Jimmy Awards on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & YouTube!

Founded in 2009 by Nederlander Alliances LLC, Pittsburgh CLO, and Broadway Education Alliance (BEA), the mission of the National High School Musical Theatre Awards® (NHSMTA®) is to raise the profile of musical theatre in schools, recognize dedicated teachers, and inspire the next generation of performers and enthusiasts.

The Jimmy Awards are presented by the Broadway League Foundation and Pittsburgh CLO in honor of legendary Broadway producer/theatre owner James M. Nederlander, and are supported by many leading theatre industry organizations. More information about the National High School Musical Theatre Awards program can be found at JimmyAwards.com.

The Broadway League conducts the program through The Broadway League Foundation, which acts as its philanthropic arm. Part of the Foundation’s mission is to enlighten and increase the public's knowledge, appreciation and awareness of the theatrical arts, and since its founding in 1993, has supported several projects to help preserve Broadway's heritage and expose new audiences to Broadway theatre. The Foundation is a corporation organized under the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law of the State of New York, the purposes of which are exclusively charitable as defined in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. Donations to support the program can be made at JimmyAwards.com.

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WELLS FARGO & COMPANY (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based financial services company with $2.0 trillion in assets. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 8,300 locations, 13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 42 countries and territories to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 263,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 25 on Fortune’s 2017 rankings of America’s largest corporations.

APPLES AND ORANGES ARTS - “Taking the Starving out of Artist” Through the convergence of creativity and technology, Apples and Oranges Arts shatters the forgone myth of “starving artist” by providing education, infrastructure and tools that link the artist and audience. www.nycoc.org

THE BROADWAY LEAGUE (Charlotte St. Martin, President), founded in 1930, is the national trade association for the Broadway industry. The League’s 700-plus members include theatre owners and operators, producers, presenters, and general managers who present in nearly 200 markets in North America. Each year, League members bring Broadway to nearly 30 million people in New York and on tour across the U.S. and Canada. The Broadway League has recently added a new category for International membership to collaborate with professionals from around the world who produce and present Broadway quality theatre. The Broadway League annually co-presents the Antoinette Perry “Tony” Awards®, one of the most coveted awards in the entertainment industry.

Key League programs and resources include: Kids’ Night on Broadway®, The Jimmy Awards®, Stars in the Alley®, Internet Broadway Database® (ibdb.com), Broadway.org, SpotlightonBroadway.com, Commercial Theater Institute (with Theatre Development Fund), as well as numerous conferences and forums for our members. Broadway Bridges®, with the support of the New York City Department of Education, is aimed at giving every New York City public high school student the opportunity to see a Broadway show before graduation. Careers.Broadway is a one-stop resource for anyone who wants to know what to do, where to look, and how to build a career on Broadway. TheatreAccess.NYC (co-produced with TDF) is the one-stop website of accessible Broadway performances for theatregoers with disabilities. Broadway.org is the League’s official on-line headquarters for Broadway in NYC, on tour, and internationally. 

For more information visit BroadwayLeague.com or follow @BroadwayLeague on Twitter and visit us at Facebook.com/BroadwayLeague. Follow @Broadway on Instagram for more Broadway content.