Nominees For 12th Annual Goldstar National Nutcracker Awards Announced

Today Goldstar announces the nominees for the 12th Annual Goldstar National Nutcracker Award, the only award honoring live performances of The Nutcracker nationwide.

The nominees showcase what make this award so special. They all represent a wide variety of genres, styles and creative themes. Nominees include well-known ballet companies like the San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet and the three-time Goldstar National Nutcracker Award-winning Joffrey Ballet. There are also more unusual tellings of the holiday classic, such as Nutcracker Rouge (2017 Nutty winner) from creator Austin Mccormick and his gender-bending troupe, Company XIV. There's also The Hip Hop Nutcracker, which replaces the pas de duex with poppin' and lockin' and features '80s rap icon MC Kurtis Blow, and Loyce Houlton's Nutcracker Fantasy, an outlandish holiday favorite which remains one of Minnesota's most treasured traditions of the season.

The complete list of nominees for the 12th Annual Goldstar National Nutcracker Award can be found here: https://www.goldstar.com/nutcrackers. And, locally nominated productions can be viewed here: https://www.goldstar.com/categories/nutcrackers-tickets.

The winner of the Goldstar National Nutcracker Award is determined by audience ratings from people who attended 2018 Nutcracker productions through Goldstar. The show with the highest overall rating earns "The Nutty" statuette and a cash prize to go toward the winner's education program. The winner of this year's award will be announced on December 18, 2018.