The winners of the 17th annual Jimmy Awards were selected and announced in a ceremony at Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre on June 22. Best Performance by an Actress went to Samia Posadas, previously honored at the Monte Awards in Tucson, Arizona; Best Performance by an Actor was awarded to Jake James of the Georgia High School Musical Theatre Awards — Shuler Hensley Awards in Atlanta.
Posadas and James were each presented with a check for $25,000 by Nederlander Producing Company of America, Inc., intended to further their theater education. In addition, the Jimmy Awards judging panel selected six finalists, each of whom received a $5,000 scholarship presented by Jimmy, Margo, Kathleen and James M. Nederlander II.
Winners of additional categories, including Outstanding Performance in an Ensemble (Alec Avila, Hayden Hooper, Jack Nelson, Olivia Serrano, Charlotte Sweet and Zane Zangwill), Showstopper (Nathan Daniels, Addison Haines and Addison Nesbitt, for individual artistic excellence during the Feature Group performance), Best Dancer (Loren Prisuta), Best Vocalist (Emma Rose Armstrong), Rising Star (Carter James Pflug, for impressive advancement during the Jimmy Awards program), Heart of the Jimmys (Towdah Denis Kiima, for exemplary community support) and Spirit of the Jimmys (Alec Avila, for embodying the spirit of the Jimmys as a celebration of musical theater), each received a $2,500 scholarship.
In addition, Kristy Kosko of Greece Arcadia High School (Stars of Tomorrow, Rochester, New York) and Peter Smeallie of Albert Einstein High School (Brandon Victor Dixon Awards, Washington, D.C.) were honored with the Inspiring Teacher Award.
The talent showcase featured 116 nominees from 58 cities — and 58 participating regional awards programs — across the country. Each nominee must win top honors at their local awards ceremony in order to be eligible for the Jimmy Awards, where a panel of judges, which this year included Montego Glover, Kenny Leon, Joe Machota, Alecia Parker, Marc Platt, Tara Rubin, Thomas Schumacher, Bernard Telsey and Lia Vollack, selects the winners. Preliminary judges who adjudicated and cast the nominees in the Character and Feature Groups included Kristian Charbonier, Stephanie Klapper, Sammy Lopez, Kevin Metzger-Timson, Dale Mott, T. Oliver Reid and Rachel Sussman.
The ceremony was hosted by Bowen Yang and featured Mason Alexander Park and Samuel Nelson III as presenters. The 2026 Jimmy Awards were also streamed live online, a recording of which can be viewed through June 25 on the Jimmy Awards website.
Since its founding in 2009, the Jimmy Awards have awarded more than $9,000,000 in educational scholarships to musical theater students throughout the country. In addition to the awards ceremony and scholarships, the Jimmy Awards also serve as a ten-day theater intensive in which nominees undergo coaching sessions and training with Broadway professionals. Since its founding, over 90 Jimmy Awards alumni have gone on to perform on Broadway or in national tours.
A full list of the 2026 winners is below.
Best Performance by an Actress
Samia Posadas, the Monte Awards (Tucson, Arizona)
Best Performance by an Actor
Jake James, Georgia High School Musical Theatre Awards — Shuler Hensley Awards (Atlanta, Georgia)
Finalists
Langston Casey, the Ken Page Awards (St. Louis, Missouri)
Emersyn Hunt, the Roger Rees Awards (New York, New York)
London Mays, Heller Awards for Young Artists (Austin, Texas)
Amaya Washington, CAPA Marquee Awards (Columbus, Ohio)
Jackson Wright, the Jerry Herman Awards (Los Angeles, California)
Josef Wright, Applause Awards (Orlando, Florida)
Outstanding Performance in an Ensemble
Alec Avila, the Arshties (Miami, Florida)
Hayden Hooper, the Orpheum High School Musical Theatre Awards (Memphis, Tennessee)
Jack Nelson, the KPA Bradley Awards (Louisville, Kentucky)
Olivia Serrano, the Arshties (Miami, Florida)
Charlotte Sweet, the Blue Star Awards (Kansas City, Missouri)
Zane Zangwill, the Philadelphia Independence Awards (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Showstopper
Nathan Daniels, METG Musical Theater Awards (Boston, Massachusetts)
Addison Haines, Miami Valley High School Theatre Awards (Dayton, Ohio)
Addison Nesbitt, the Broadway San Diego Awards (San Diego, California)
Best Dancer
Loren Prisuta, Gene Kelly Awards (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
Best Vocalist
Emma Rose Armstrong, Broadway Star of the Future (Tampa, Florida)
Rising Star
Carter James Pflug, Nebraska Theater Academy (Omaha, Nebraska)
Heart of the Jimmys
Towdah Denis Kiima, Broadway Dallas High School Musical Theatre Awards (Dallas, Texas)
Spirit of the Jimmys
Alec Avila, The Arshties (Miami, Florida)
