How to Enter
The Thespy Awards are open to Thespians and Junior Thespians. You must be inducted into the International Thespian Society to participate (or on track to be inducted by the time of the International Thespian Festival (ITF), traditionally held the last week of June).
Explore the categories and prepare a submission.
Work with your theatre teacher to find a category you can excel in and understand all the program and category-specific rules and requirements before you present your submission. Rehearse your performance or presentation often and in front of as many people as possible so you can get comfortable performing under pressure. Work with your teachers, coaches, and peers to ensure you’re showcasing your best work.
Register for your local or regional Thespy Awards qualifying event.
Each chapter handles qualifying events differently, so it’s important to understand the requirements in your region. Qualifying event information will be posted as it’s received. You must enter the qualifying event in your home chapter, but don’t worry if your chapter doesn’t offer a qualifying event — there’s an alternate qualifier round held by EdTA!
Receive your scores and feedback from your qualifier.
Once you receive your scores, you’ll know if you’ve qualified to move to the next round—students who receive an overall Superior rating are invited to the next round of Thespys. Depending on where you’re located, local events feed into regional events, which then feed into the final round of adjudication at ITF.
Review your feedback and refine your performance or presentation.
It’s important to keep working on your submission, applying learnings from the adjudicators’ feedback. This is how you stretch and grow your skills. If you didn’t qualify to move on, use the feedback you received as you continue to work in your field at school or in your community. There will come a time when you get to apply what you’ve learned in the future!
Register for an all-access pass to ITF and select the Thespys as an add-on by May 1, 2024.
Your troupe director or Primary Conact is responsible for registering you for ITF. You may enter more than one Thespy category, but you must present the same performance or presentation that you qualified with at the chapter level (no changes are allowed, though you can continue to refine your existing performance or presentation). The Thespy application for the final round of adjudication is due May 15, 2024.
Prepare your Thespy performance or presentation and wow the adjudicators.
Adjudication will take place in person for any Thespian registered to attend ITF (except for those participating in the Playwriting and Short Film categories) and digitally for any Thespians who are unable to attend ITF. For Playwriting and Short Film, all submissions are adjudicated digitally prior to ITF, regardless of whether the Thespian is attending the festival in person in order for the adjudicators to review the scripts and films and adequedately provide feedback. Read your category's specific rules carefully. Each entry will be reviewed by three adjudicators and scores/feedback will be released to troupe directors or Primary Contacts. It is the their responsibility to share Thespy results with Thespians.
Attend the Thespy Awards Showcase at ITF to celebrate the high-achieving Thespians.
Those who received an overall Superior rating will be celebrated and Thespians with the highest scores in each category will be revealed live during the showcase, along with the recipients of any Thespy-based scholarships.