All participation guidelines and rules can be found in the Participation Handbook linked above.

In addition to the required Outstanding Overall Musical, Outstanding Lead Actress, and Outstanding Lead Actor, we will nominate students and productions for a variety of categories recognizing their accomplishments in performing, backstage work, set design, costume design, choreography and more. View a full list of categories in the Participation Handbook linked above.

This program will be completely free for schools and students to participate. However, schools and/or students may be responsible for transportation and some meals on the workshop/ceremony days.

Schools that do not have a full theater program, but produce some kind of revue, scenes, etc. may be eligible to participate in our Non-Adjudicated level. Additional details about this new aspect fo the program can be found in the Participation Handbook linked above.

For the Adjudicated Level, the National High School Musical Theatre Awards release a list of Qualifying Shows and Roles. While this list is updated each year, typically shows are added rather than removed. We will update the list for the 2026 Awards as soon as it is released. Please note that your show must be adjudicated by Friday, April 24, 2026. For the Non-Adjudicated Level, there are fewer requirements, which can be found in the Participation Handbook linked above.

To keep the competition fair, judges are selected from outside resources and are not staff members of the hosting theater or organization. This provides a wonderful opportunity to encourage involvement from other cultural and educational institutions within our region. Our judges include educators (not high school level), theater professionals and other community members with a knowledge of and interest in musical theater. The commitment of these volunteers provides the schools with invaluable feedback about their performances, which can help them to improve each year.

The objective of this independent panel of judges is to provide a fair analysis of each school's performance, determine nominees and select winners in each category. Each judge will use a Scoring Rubric to evaluate shows.

One finalist from each school will be chosen in the categories of Outstanding Lead Actor and Outstanding Lead Actress and will participate in a second round of adjudication. These finalists must have performed roles from the National High School Musical Theatre Awards list of eligible shows and roles. At this audition, finalists will sing 32 bars from the eligible role that they performed during their school’s musical, as well as participate in a dance call for our panel of judges.

Schools within a 2-hour driving distance of the Tennessee Theatre are eligible for participation. If you are not located within this radius, you can find other participating regional programs.

If you are a school with questions regarding The Marquee Awards, please contact Alex Drinnen. If you have questions regarding the adudication process or becoming an adjudicator, please contact Logan Dozier.