Participation

Aims

• To Acknowledge the contribution made by community and non-professional performers in theatre groups and in high schools and colleges to the cultural life of the Gold Coast and surrounding areas.

• To Celebrate live theatre in the community, believing that theatre is an essential part of peoples' lives, making life "better for people".

• To Provide a forum for networking and sharing of resources between theatre groups within the wider Gold Coast area.

• To Provide a public event where outstanding talent is rewarded in a tangible form.

• To Encourage the pursuit of excellence by aspiring performers.

History

In 1994 Kate Peters was sitting with three other people in a Canberra cafe bemoaning the fact that the expensive green room awards ceremony they had just attended had been all about esoteric performances and thinly attended productions and had ignored major community productions which had enticed thousands of Canberrans out to the theatre. She suggested that an award system to acknowledge the contribution of non-professional community groups should be created and so the Canberra Amateur Theatre Awards were born. Kates husband LG suggested the replacement of the word Amateur with Area to give the awards a way to expand the catchment area and so the C.A.T Awards were off and running.

When she relocated to the Gold Coast in 1997, Kate was asked if she was going to start the awards up here but declined. By 2008 however many approaches had been made to her to create a similar model, with several Queensland tours under her belt she agreed to convening and running the Gold Coast Area Theatre Awards, which later became and is now known as the Gold Palm Theatre Awards. The change in name was made to expand catchment and to include theatre companies outside the Gold Coast area. Gold Coast arts philanthropists Jock and Beverly McIlwain came to the awards as major sponsors and remained until both of their deaths. The awards have grown over the past 15 years to now include Bangalow, Ballina, Kyogle and Lismore in the South to Ipswich in the West and to Redcliffe and Brisbane, plus all points in between.

In 2025 a cloud based online nomination system was implemented for greater efficiency for judges and now includes judges suggestions for Awards Night performances and offers the opportunity for judges to provide feedback after each show they see, which is available by request from the director's only at the end of the awards season. The judging panel has been expanded from the original group of eight to a panel of 12 for 2026.

In December each year, the Convenor contacts theatre groups and high schools and colleges in the areas to be included in the award catchment area. The potential participants are sent a Participation Package with all relevant documentation.

All participating groups in the Awards are required to pay a small Administration Fee per year to defray costs associated with the overnight accommodation of judges where they are attending performances more than two hours drive away from the Gold Coast, and other items like office expenses and the Awards themselves. A small fuel subsidy charge (per show) is also required for participants located 100km (round trip) or more from the Central Gold Coast.

The participating organisations are required to submit their yearly program in advance, and agree to make available three (3) pairs of tickets for each production, plus a program for each judge attending.

The Gold Palm Theatre Awards truly celebrate the heart of our local theatre community.

Emma J.

★★★★★

The theatre community looks forward to the end of year awards night as the go to event of the social theatre calendar.

Thomas B.

★★★★★