Winnie Awards

HISTORY of The WINNIES

The “Winnie Awards” were created in 1967 by the board of directors of Yakima Little Theatre Group – today’s Warehouse Theatre Company.  They were first intended to be a tongue-in-cheek honor to that year’s outgoing president, Winston “Winnie” Hoffman.

That first round of “The Winnies” was so popular, it was repeated the following year and nearly every year since. The Winnie Awards Ceremony remains a key piece of Warehouse Theatre Company tradition. The format of the ceremony itself has shifted and changed over the years; today’s ceremony design is “Tony-esque” featuring musical numbers, scenes from the previous season’s shows, and a preview of plays selected for the coming season.

In ‘67, a panel of three judges was recruited to score performances leading to recognition of the season’s best. Today, to make for a more balanced system of scoring, the panel is a dozen strong. The pool of judges includes a cross section of theatre professionals and lay people alike. To avoid a conflict of interests, judges may not be involved in a production within the season they’re judging.

Each judge attends all the shows in the season, and using the criteria found here, generates a score for each one in turn. Judges do not compare scores with each other; they simply complete their judge’s form and send them to the Winnie Committee chair. At season’s end (June of each year), the Winnie Committee convenes to add up all the judge’s scores and determine the award winners.

Awards not relying on judge’s scores are:

“Bootsy Semon Award”: Named after a legendary WTC  performer and contributor, the award goes to an individual for outstanding contribution to productions of the WTC; voted on by the past five recipients of the award

“Director’s Choice”: Presented by the director of each show to a person deemed most helpful to their production

“People’s Choice”: Voted on by those holding season coupons

“Gilbert & Seely Outstanding Service Award”: an award presented by the Executive Director to person(s) making an outstanding contribution to the business side of the theatre