Sydney Fringe 2011 Awards for Excellence

The 2nd Annual Sydney Fringe Festival Award-winners were announced and their work celebrated in a ceremony at the Sidetrack Theatre, Marrickville, on November 3.

It does, however, seem a rather long time lapse between the close of Fringe on October 2 and the awards presentations, compared to, say, the 2011 Adelaide and Melbourne Fringe Festivals, where the awards were presented on the closing night of the festival

Festival Director Richard Hull said that more than 70,000 audience-members attended more than 250 events in over 80 venues.

"We are still new, we are still growing and we are still very much at the start of this journey," Hull said.

"We have already begun our plans for 2012 and I hope, at least some of you here tonight, will be ready to take another plunge when we open our registration process on February 1^st.

"But tonight is about recognizing some amazing work from this year’s festival. A team of judges, including myself, who saw as many shows, events and exhibitions as we humanly could, have recommended and wrangled  to reach our final choices.

"In a festival as diverse as this, with so many genres, so many reasons and motivations for being a part of the Fringe, to compare one artist’s work against another is, I think, a bit redundant. So we celebrate excellence across the board here tonight, without categories or competing nominations."

Performing Arts winners of Awards for Excellence are:

Divya Palat

Writer/director/performer/producer

For her production A PERSONAL WAR, STORIES OF THE MUMBAI TERROR ATTACKS

Danielle Maas & Jessica Wallace

Writers/performers/designers/producers

For their devised production COUNTRY MATTERS

James Edgar Francis & Maxine Kauter

Musical arrangers/performers

For their production BEAUTY AND THE BEAST – AN EVENING OF DISNEY SONGS

Ali Kennedy Scott

Writer/performer

For her solo performance THE DAY THE SKY TURNED BLACK

Chris Turner

Performer

For his performance as Jack in THE WILL

Daniel Hunter

Director/Co-producer

For his direction of PRODUCT by MARK RAVENHILL

Naomi Livingstone & Edward Grey

Performers

For their performances in the musical JOHN AND JEN

Gavin Roach

Writer/performer

For his solo performance CONFESSIONS OF A GRINDR ADDICT

Susan Williamson & Simone O'Brien

Writers, Performers, Knitters

For creating SPINNING A YARN

James Buckingham & Liam Bradbery

Devisers/performers

For their performances in ROMEO AND JULIET IN TEN WITH TWO

Keira Daley

Writer/performer

For her cabaret production LADY NERD

Tommy Bradson

Writer/performer

For his performance in PIRATE RHAPSODY, MERMAID REQUIEM

Austinmer Dance Theatre

For their production TOO SOON TO TELL

Helen O’Leary

Writer/performer

For her solo performance MY PARIS

Michael Workman

Writer/performer

For his stand-up show MERCY

PETER LEHMANN PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD

THE DAY THE SKY TURNED 

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