The shortlist for the Music & Drama Education Awards 2024 has been announced

The shortlists for 15 categories in Music & Drama Education Awards 2025 have been announced and those in the running and taking home an award will be announced at the ceremony in January next year.

Carried out annually by Music teacher And Drama & Theater Magazines, the awards recognize excellence in music and theater education and celebrate the work and initiatives of schools, organisations, charities and individuals who support young talent.

The awards also include a new category this year. The MTI Award for Achievement in Musical Theater Provision is sponsored by Music Theater International.

The jury was made up of prominent figures in music and drama education, including winners of previous year’s awards, all selected from different areas of the music and drama education sector, including SEND, primary, secondary, extra-curricular and EDI and higher education. The jury day was co-chaired by Music teacher Editor Phil Croydon and Wendy Frost, Head of Drama Content at Music & Drama Education Expo.

The entire committee consisted of:

• British Youth Musical Theater Casting and Young Company Manager Cerys Jones
• Dale Rooks, Chichester Festival Theater Head of Learning, Education and Participation
• Educator, performer and musical director Edwin Pitt Mansfield
• Emily Crowhurst, Head of 4-18 Performing Arts at School21
• Vamos Theater Creative Producer, Honor Hoskins
• Jon Fell, Head of Creative Arts Faculty at Southwark College
• Kate Campbell-Green, Head of Music Services at Tameside Council
• Music education consultant and composer Kay Charlton
• Lynette Shanbury, executive director and co-executive director of Polka Theater
• Senior Director of Kent & Medway Music Hub Olivia Edwards
• Patrice Baldwin, specialist in acting education and chair of the Council For Subject Associations
• Deputy Head of Advice, Curriculum and Pedagogy at Leicestershire Music Sarah Share
• Steve Ball, Director of Birmingham Arts School
• Educator, author and speaker Tolu McCarthy

And for certain awards:

Ryan Macaulay, Director of Operations, Education & Development at Music Theater International (MTI Award for Achievement in Musical Theater Provision only)

Rachel Hawker, Director of Education, Rocksteady Music School (Rocksteady Award for Progressive and Inclusive Music Education only)

To find out more about our judges, please click Here.

In addition to a drinks reception and a three-course meal, the ceremony includes live performances by young artists from across the country.

The shortlisted entries in the Music and Crossover categories are as follows:

Drama Inspiration Award

Beau Jessica Roberts
Jackie Cobham
Nick O’Brien
Tracy Dorrington
Zelia Attzs

Excellence in Musical Theater (Music & Theater)

BB Broadway @ The Turbine Theater, BB Broadway
Ludwig Theater Arts, for Les Misérables Teen Edition
St Mary’s College, Hull, for Hull Performance Academy
The Beaconsfield School for Beaconsfield Performing Arts
Theater Peckham, for the Academy Training Program
Trafalgar Entertainment Trust for summer youth projects

Excellence in Primary/Early Years (Music & Theater)

Barnet Education Arts Trust for the Infant Music Festival
Buxton Opera House, for satellite project
MishMash Productions and Nottingham City Libraries for Ruby’s Worry
Performatots Preschool
Speech Bubbles: – Drama for communication
The Birmingham Rep and the Birmingham Early Years Network for the Early Years Project
The Grange Festival to learn at The Grange

Excellence in SEND (Music & Theater)

Born2Sing Academy
Create music for Orchestra 360
Drake Music Scotland, for Digital Orchestra: Youth
HMDT Music, for Music Treehouse
Lancashire Music Service
The Big Reveal East Kent Orchestra, for Voices in the Wilderness
The OHMI Trust for OHMI Connect
Welsh National Opera, for Opera Tutti

Instrumental or Vocal Teacher of the Year

Colin Bellworthy
Alberto Christodoulou
Lucica Trita
Scott Whitefield
Catherine Williams

Music Inspiration Award

Alphonso Archer
Vicki Cooper
Hannah Kaye Shepheard
Sam Massey
Carly Palmer
Karen Tweddle
Ollie Tumner

New! The MTI Prize for achievements in the field of musical theater

Ballard School, Hampshire
Caister Academy, Caister On Sea
CAPA Juniors, Trinity Academy Cathedral, Wakefield
CTA Productions, Fareham
Droylsden Academy, Manchester
Farlingaye High School, Woodbridge
Westcliff High School for Girls, Essex
Windsor Learning Partnership Senior Schools Music Department

Excellent resource for acting training

Get into theater and creative learning from ATG Entertainment for work in the Theater Teacher Toolkit
Linden Walcott-Burton and Nick Hern Books, for The Drama Workshop Leader
Methuen Drama, for 200 themes for theater design with 11 to 18 year olds
MN Awards for graded exams in the areas of script specification and teacher resources
Royal Shakespeare Company, for the RSC Shakespeare Learning Zone
Stage Coach Performing Arts
SubjectResources.com, for Devising 101

Excellent drama initiative

Buxton Opera House, for Work Experience – Theater and Education Tour
Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation for the Shakespeare Schools Festival
Don’t Write Me Off (DWMO), for Actively SeeK.ING
Nick Hern Books, for Multiplay Drama: Season 2
Performance of international plays for school workshops
Polka Theater for The Freefalling Project
Royal Shakespeare Company, for the RSC Associate Schools Program
The Birmingham Rep Theater for Fridge City

Excellent print resource for music education

Edward Caswell and Peter Hunt for SingCircle: 111 rounds to sing by heart
Chris Haigh, for Beginning Folk Fiddle
Paul Harris for “How to Sight Read.”
Nathan Holder, for “The World of Music: and How It Moves Us.”
Nathan Holder and Rachel Shapey for Listen & Celebrate Key Stage 3: Activities to enrich and diversify the music of Key Stage 3
Kit Massey, for music theory for children
Mark Wilson and Paul Wood for Stringtastic

Excellent resource for music education

BBC Philharmonic, for musical Storyland
DaCapo Primary Music, for DaCapo Online
ISM Trust, for breaking the singing barrier
Leicestershire Music, for the primary beatbox working unit
MusicFirst, for OGenPlus
Opera North, Orchestras Live, AMP Music and Skipton Town Hall, for ON Tour
Presto Music Production and Emofront in collaboration with Sparky Animation for Rhythm Warriors Piano Zone
The Music Teachers’ Association and Patrick Johns for the Teaching Notes podcast

Outstanding musical initiative

City of London Schools and Wren 300 for Raising the Roof
Come and sing company
Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Company
MuseCool, for MusicOnWheels
Music Masters for the Flagship Schools program
National Orchestra for All, Modulo Program and Music Leadership Training – Orchestras for All
Warwick – a singing city

Excellent school theater department

Aldwickbury School, Harpenden
Inverurie Academy, Inverurie
Salterford House School, Nottingham
Shenley Brook End School, Milton Keynes
The Beaconsfield School, Beaconsfield
Treviglas Academy, Newquay

Excellent school music department

Bristol Cathedral Choir School
Lancing College
Leighton Park School, Reading
Nottingham Girls’ High School GDST, Nottingham
Sandbach School
The Winston Churchill School, Woking
Thetford Academy, Norfolk

The Rocksteady Award for progressive and inclusive music education

AmaSing
London Sinfonietta, for composition challenges
Hertfordshire Music Service, for the home school elective music program
Songs, signs and sounds, for music and well-being
Power jam band project

Winners of four additional categories will also be announced on January 30: the Lifetime Achievement Awards for Music and Drama, the Music Teacher Magazine Editor’s Award and the Drama & Theater Magazine Editor’s Award.

Sponsors of the 2025 awards include AVID, the Music Teachers Association, Music Theater International, Rocksteady Music School and the Royal Marines Band Service.

Information about purchasing tickets for the ceremony can be found here Hereand the shortlists for all categories can be found Here.

www.musicdramaedawards.com