2024 Nathan Cohen Awards Announces 2024 Call for Submissions

Another year of live theatre has flown by. Across Canada, critics have written about everything from world premieres of new plays to remounts of beloved classics. As well, critics have expanded the very form of theatre reviewing, integrating podcasts, social media posts and other new technologies into their critical practices. 

In a thrilling year for theatre and its criticism across the country, the Canadian Theatre Critics Association has launched the 2024 Nathan Cohen Awards for Excellence in Theatre Criticism. The CTCA is now accepting submissions for the 2024 Nathan Cohen Awards, with a deadline to submit of January 3, 2025. 

Members of the Canadian Theatre Critics Association can submit to the following categories: 

Outstanding Review: This award celebrates outstanding achievement in a written or verbal review of a particular production or productions by a Canada-based writer published within the qualifying time period, including elements of description, analysis and qualitative judgment of the production. 

Outstanding Critical Essay: This award celebrates outstanding achievement in a piece of critical writing by a Canada-based writer outside of the traditional review format. This may include features, interviews, trend pieces, editorials, and article series (up to a maximum of 2,500 words cumulatively) written from a critical perspective. If you are unsure whether a piece is eligible for submission, please contact the CTCA. 

Outstanding Emerging Critic: This award celebrates outstanding achievement by a Canada based writer who has been practicing theatre criticism for less than three years, either professionally, non-professionally or in a training context. Reviews submitted for the Outstanding Emerging Critic award need not have been previously published. This award includes the opportunity to publish reviews and/or long-form pieces for Intermission Magazine under the mentorship of Intermission senior editor and CTCA board member Aisling Murphy. This award is open to applicants with a CTCA Student Membership. Submissions must include a bio and a representative review or essay (written, audio, video or multimedia) completed within the eligible time frame. 

The awards, established in 1981, recognize outstanding critical writing in print and/or digital media. They are open to any writer who is normally a resident in Canada. Entries for this year's Outstanding Review, Outstanding Critical Essay and Outstanding Emerging Critic awards must have been published between November 1, 2023 and December 31, 2024. 

The awards for Outstanding Review and Outstanding Critical Essay carry a cash prize and a framed certificate. These awards will be judged by former Washington Post theatre critic Peter Marks.

The award for Outstanding Emerging Critic will be judged by 2023's Nathan Cohen Award for Outstanding winner, freelance critic and professor Ilana Lucas, and 2023's Nathan Cohen Award for Outstanding Critical Essay winner, York University assistant professor Jamie Robinson. 

Award winners will be announced in early 2025. 

The awards are named after Nathan Cohen (1923-1971), esteemed theatre critic for the Toronto Star and CBC, and were established to encourage his high standards of rigorous and insightful criticism. For a list of past recipients, see the CTCA website: canadiantheatrecritics.ca. 

Entries should be emailed to Martin Morrow at martinmorrow1@gmail.com as a Word document. Links to work published online will also be accepted. 

For Outstanding Review and Outstanding Critical Essay awards: There is a $10 fee per entry for members of the CTCA. Non-members pay a fee of $35 for the first entry and a $10 fee for each entry thereafter. Anyone paying the $35 fee will be designated an Associate Member of the organization for the remainder of the calendar year. (Regular CTCA membership may then be applied for on or after Jan. 1, 2025.) 

For Outstanding Emerging Critic award: All entrants, including non-members, must pay $10. Non-CTCA members' fee will cover both the award entry fee and one year of student membership with the CTCA. 

The entry fee should be sent to CTCA Treasurer James Karas at james@jameskaras.com. It may be sent as an e-transfer or by cheque in the mail. If sending by mail, make the cheque payable to Canadian Theatre Critics Association and post to: 

CTCA – Nathan Cohen Awards 

25 Parkview Hill Cres. Toronto, ON M4B 1P4 

Entries will only be valid upon receipt of the entry fee. If you have any other questions about the CTCA or the Nathan Cohen Awards, please contact CTCA President Ilana Lucas at ilana.lucas@gmail.com. 

ABOUT THE CANADIAN THEATRE CRITICS ASSOCIATION 

The CTCA is an association of professional critics, entertainment writers, and journalists from the online, broadcast and print media, operating first as the Toronto Drama Bench in the 1970s and expanding nationally in 1981 to become the Canadian Theatre Critics Association/ Association des Critiques de Théâtre du Canada. The organization works to promote excellence in the craft of theatre criticism across Canada and to encourage the development of new Canada-based writers. 

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