Each year, the Olivier Award winners are decided by a group of distinguished industry professionals, theatre luminaries and members of the public specifically chosen for their passion for London theatre.
How it works
Lively and intense debates are conducted by four panels – theatre, opera, dance and affiliates – each overseen by the Society of London Theatre (SOLT).
The professional panellists are chosen for their knowledge in the selected field and each panel is made up of various members including journalists, casting directors, arts administrators and publishers. Each person is chosen by the Chief Executive of SOLT following advice from the SOLT Awards Office and external advisors.
Chris Hooper, Patti LuPone, Marianne Elliott and Jonathon Bailey take a selfie with their awards for ‘Company’. Photo by David Levene.
The process
Any new production that opened between 21 February 2022 and 14 February 2023 in a theatre represented in membership of the Society of London Theatre was eligible for consideration for the Olivier Awards 2023 with Mastercard, provided it ran for the minimum amount of performances required for that category.
For Affiliates, Dance and Opera, panellists select the shows they consider most worthy of an Olivier Award (to create the nominations in the relevant categories) and vote on a winner at the end of the judging period.
For the Theatre awards, the process happens in two stages. Firstly, a long list is compiled by the Theatre panel, which indicates productions or individuals in a category which the panel deem worthy of particular attention. This long list is then submitted to SOLT members to vote upon; members may still vote outside of this list at this stage, except for in the four Supporting Actor/Actress categories (as these each contain thousands of eligible performers). The members’ votes are collated with those of the panellists to create the list of nominees.
In the second stage, the overall shortlist of nominees is voted on by both members and panellists to produce the winners.
And the winners are…
Although there is much speculation and gossip among fans, aficionados and stars of the stage, the winners in each category are a closely guarded secret. They are known only by those who strictly need to know to get everything ready for the night – a tiny number of the Olivier Awards team and the engraver of the statuettes – until they are announced at the Olivier Awards ceremony.
Jack McBrayer and Katharine McPhee at the 2019 Olivier Awards. Photo by David Levene.
Be a judge
Each year, SOLT looks for members of the public to serve as Olivier Award panellists. Prospective panellists are asked to submit a show review and undergo interviews with the Chief Executive of SOLT and the Olivier Awards office.
If you are selected as a panellist, you can’t be expected to make decisions without doing your research. That’s why each successful candidate is given free tickets to eligible shows throughout the year. Not only that, as an official judge, you’ll also get to attend the ceremony and rub shoulders with the glitterati of the theatre world.