Photos: Actors' Playhouse and The Children's Trust Announce The 2022 Young Talent Big Dreams Competition Winners

Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, together with presenting sponsor The Children's Trust, are proud to announce the 2022 winners of Young Talent Big Dreams, the most widespread, local FREE youth talent competition in Miami-Dade County.

A marathon of semifinal competitions for student performers ages 8-17 culminated in the finals held this past Saturday, May 14, at the Miracle Theatre. Prizes ranged from cash awards, master classes with industry professionals and performance opportunities to performing arts scholarships sponsored by SouthState Bank, Coral Gables Community Foundation and the Coral Gables Rotary Club. The grand prize winners also received $500 in cash provided by Actors' Playhouse, and four tickets to Universal Orlando along with a hotel stay for two nights courtesy of WSVN 7News.

Hundreds of hopeful contestants attended six preliminary auditions held over the past three months in distinct geographic neighborhoods, including the Miracle Theatre in Coral Gables, Miami Arts Studio 6-12 @ Zelda Glazer in Kendale Lakes and the City of Miami Little Haiti Cultural Complex in Little Haiti. Participation was free and limited to residents of Miami-Dade County. The competition featured a total of six individual categories: pop/rock/rap vocals, musical theatre/jazz standards/classical vocals, dance, musical instrument, original spoken word and original vocal and/or instrumental composition. Group categories (six or fewer members) included musical instrument/bands and vocal groups.

Semifinals and finals were held before live audiences; up to five acts in each individual category and up to three acts in each group category advanced to the finals, where judges selected a winner in each category as well as a grand prize honoree.

"Actors' Playhouse is honored to present our Young Talent Big Dreams talent contest which builds an opportunity for young people in the performing arts and all life skills," says Barbara S. Stein, executive producing director of Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre. "We are very grateful for the ongoing support and partnership of presenting sponsor The Children's Trust for believing in this project for the betterment of our community."

"My family and I were captivated by the level of talent at the finals for this year's Young Talent Big Dreams competition," said James Haj president and CEO of The Children's Trust. "Every year we find more and more talent. That speaks to the amazing abilities of our children and youth, and what they can accomplish if they are given opportunities."

Young Talent Big Dreams follows the popular TV talent show model; judges have included a host of industry professionals from the performing arts community. Judging the May 14 finals were David Arisco, artistic director, Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre; Howard Cohen, features writer, the Miami Herald; Natalie Lewis-Schere, co-founder and executive director, PATH: Preserving Archiving & Teaching Hiphop; Herman Payne, Miami City Ballet Resident Faculty and Adjunct Professor at the New World School of the Arts, University of Florida and Miami-Dade Colleges; and Shamele Jenkins, Artistic Director of Lip, Tongue & Ear Poetry Productions and Executive Director/CEO of the Miami-Dade County Foster & Adoptive Parent Association.