2014 Gershwin High School Award Winners Announced; Sarah Liddy and Steven Telsey Take Best Actor and Actress

The 4th annual Gershwin Awards, a celebration of outstanding achievement in musical theater performance by high school students, was held yesterday at the Davenport Studios to select the Best Leading Actress and Best Leading Actor in the New York City metropolitan area.

Forty students representing high schools in the five boroughs, Long Island, and Westchester were nominated by their teachers to compete for the Gershwin Award based on the quality of his/her performance of a leading character role in their school musical presented during the 2013-2014 academic year. The one day event featured an ensemble performance of a Gershwin medley and a showcase of student solos performing a song from his/her school production performed for a panel of Broadway professionals.

The 2014 Gershwin Award winners are:

Best Leading Actress:

Sarah Liddy, Pelham, NY

Memorial High School, Grade 10

The Drowsy Chaperone in The Drowsy Chaperone

Best Leading Actor:

Steven Telsey, New Hyde Park, NY

Great Neck South High School, Grade 12

Adolpho in The Drowsy Chaperone

Best Up & Coming:

Alessandra Gluf, Queens, NY

Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, Grade 12

Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors

The 2014 Gershwin Awards 40-member cast is available atwww.gershwinawards.com.

The Gershwin Awards winners receive a cash prize and represent the New York City region at the 6th annual National High School Musical Theater Awards, which will be held on Monday, June 30th at the Minskoff Theater on Broadway. Also known as The Jimmy's to honor Broadway impresario James M. Nederlander, the event will feature 56 talented students selected by 28 regional award programs from over 2,000 participating schools across America. The national award presentation follows a 5-day all expense paid professional training and rehearsals at New York University New Studio on Broadway.

The 3-member panel of judges included Michael Dansicker, author, composer, arranger, music supervisor, and orchestrator for over 100 New York productions; Jeff Lee, Associate Director for Disney Theatrical Productions and Adjunct Professor in the Graduate Schools and Yale School of Drama and the Columbia School of Arts Theater Division; and Michelle Mallardi, Broadway performer whose roles include Belle in Beauty and the Beast and Voice Training faculty of Long Island University's musical theatre department.

The Gershwin Awards is presented by a coalition of businesses working on/around Broadway including Camp Broadway LLC, Davenport Studios, Disney Theatrical Productions, Grosh Scenic Rentals, Inside Broadway and Balcony New York. For more information on the Gershwin Award, please visit www.GershwinAwards.com.

The National High School Musical Theater Awards is presented by the Broadway Education Alliance on behalf of a 30-member coalition of performing arts centers operating across America. The program was established in 2009 to promote theater arts education in high schools. Since then over $1,000,000 in university and conservatory scholarships has been awarded to talented students at the national and local levels-several of whom have already been cast in Broadway, touring and West End productions.

For more information on the National High School Musical Theater Awards, please visit

www.NHSMTA.com.