Rising Star Awards Information

The Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards were created in 1996 to encourage and reward exceptional accomplishments in the production of high school musical theatre. The Rising Star Awards is a statewide competition of New Jersey high school musicals modeled after Broadway's Tony Awards. 

Awards  are presented for outstanding achievement by students and educators in the areas of performance, design, direction, choreography, technical production and overall production excellence. 

The Rising Star Award Corps of Evaluators, comprised of theater professionals, performing artists, designers, and theater arts educators, views 100  student productions from high schools across the state.  The Tony Awards-style Rising Star Awards Gala Ceremony is presented on the Paper Mill stage. Award-winners are presented with an engraved crystal award from sponsor Tiffany & Co.

Paper Mill Playhouse also awards four $1000 cash scholarships to outstanding individual students participating in entered Rising Star Award productions who plan to continue studying theater in college. A fifth scholarship for $1000 dedicated to technical theater is sponsored by Scaramouche Costumes, LLC.

Lastly, students receiving final nominations in the lead and supporting acting categories win a scholarship to Paper Mill Playhouse's competitive Summer Musical Theatre Conservatory, a professional training program which along with advanced classes in singing, acting and dance, offers the nominees an opportunity to perform on the Paper Mill stage in our annual New Voices Concert. Any New Jersey public, private or parochial school may enter by completing an application and being among the first 100 to apply by January 9, 2013. 

For additional information on the Rising Star Awards or to be added to the mailing list to receive application information, please contact 973.315-1672.

Participating Schools

The 2013 Rising Star Awards Participating Schools list can be found as a PDF download at the bottom of this page.

NJ schools wishing to receive information about entering the 2014 Rising Star Awards, should email Carrie Rubino, Senior Manager of Educational Programming, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Awards Nominees and Honorable Mentions

Thank you to all of the participants!  Please scroll to the bottom of this page to download the list of the 2013 Rising Star Awards Nominations and Honorable Mentions.  Please email all spelling corrections to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Thank you and congratulations!

Awards Recipients

Check back on June 5, 2013 to see the 2013 Rising Star Awards recipients.

Rising Star Awards are generously supported by the Investors Foundation and The Bloomingdale’s Fund of the Macy’s Foundation.  Major funding for Paper Mill Playhouse Education Outreach is provided by The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and MetLife Foundation. Rising Star scholarships are made possible by John Burgio & Ruth Bedford in Memory of Jane Burgio, Scaramouche Costumes LLC, Douglas Michael Krueger Scholarship Fund Trust, VSA New Jersey, and the Cultural Access Network of New Jersey. This program is made possible, in part, by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, A Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.  Paper Mill Playhouse is a not-for-profit arts organization. 

Downloads

File	File size
2013 Rising Star Awards Nominations and Honorable Mentions	190 Kb
2013 RSA Particpating Schools	163 Kb