The Jerry Herman Awards

THE JERRY HERMAN AWARDS is a local celebration dedicated to recognizing, encouraging, and rewarding achievements and excellence in high school musical theatre. It is the local award ceremony for THE NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL THEATRE AWARDS, also known as The Jimmy’s, which take place annually at the Minskoff Theatre on Broadway in New York City. Every year two students are sent to New York to represent Los Angeles at The Jimmy’s to participate in a week-long workshop and compete for the coveted Jimmy Award, named after the late James M. Nederlander.

 

2025 JERRY HERMAN AWARD WINNERS

BEST ACTRESS

  • Riley Eichberg - Calabasas High School

BEST ACTOR

  • Jackson Wright - St. Francis High School 

BEST SCENIC DESIGN

  • Charter Oak High School - Anything Goes 

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN

  • St. Francis High School - Les Misérables

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

  • Redondo Union High School - Matilda 

BEST ORCHESTRA

  • Beverly Hills High School - Mary Poppins 

BEST TECHNICAL CREW

  • Chadwick School - The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee 

BEST ENSEMBLE OR CHORUS

  • Royal High School - Something Rotten! 

BEST MUSICAL STAGING OR CHOREOGRAPHY

  • Agoura High School - 42nd Street 

BEST MUSICAL DIRECTION

  • Notre Dame High School - Into the Woods 

BEST PRODUCTION

  • Palisades Charter High School - The Addams Family 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

  • John Burroughs HS | Big Fish | Evan Baker as Will Bloom 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

  • Louisville HS | 1776 | Elyse Ramirez as Benjamin Franklin 

“NO SMALL PARTS” AWARD

  • The Buckley School | Something Rotten! | Asher Prady as Shylock

Competing in the JERRY HERMAN AWARDS

Each year, Broadway in Hollywood hosts the Jerry Herman High School Musical Theatre Awards with one goal: to constructively support local high school performing arts programs. Both public and private high schools from all over Los Angeles County submit productions for consideration across twelve performance and technical categories:

  • Scenic Design
  • Lighting Design
  • Costume Design
  • Orchestra
  • Ensemble/Chorus
  • Musical Staging/Choreography
  • Musical Direction
  • Technical Crew
  • Supporting Actor
  • Supporting Actress
  • "No Small Parts"
  • Best Production

The Hollywood Pantages sends volunteer adjudicators to all of the performances. In the spring, a team at the Pantages, determine the nominees using the adjudicators’ notes and a digital recording of the production. 

To compete for the best actor and best actress categories, each participating school sends one male and one female lead to audition in front of a panel of industry judges. For two days leading up the award show, the best actor and actress nominees are narrowed down to three male and three female finalists. The six finalists perform a solo number on the night of the awards, with a trip to New York to participate in the National High School Musical Theatre Awards (The Jimmys) awarded to the final male and female contestants.

2026 Application Information for Schools

Participation Applications for the 2026 Jerry Herman Awards are currently not open to the public. If you're interested in be placed on our waitlist, please reach out to JHAWARDS@NEDERLANDER.COM.  

2026 Adjudicator Application

Adjudicator Applications are now OPEN! Here is a LINK to the application. If you sign-up, a member of our team will contact you with more information. 

NHSMTA | Qualifying Best Actor/Actress Roles 2025

CLICK HERE to view the qualifying roles for Best Actor and Best Actress nominations.

NHSMTA | The Jimmy Awards

CLICK HERE for information about the National High School Musical Theatre Awards (AKA: "The Jimmy Awards")

2025 Program

CLICK HERE to view the Jerry Herman Awards 2025 Program.