There’s one event held every year at the DCPA that never fails to delight. Hundreds of students and educators, plus their friends and family, flocked to the Ellie Caulkins Opera House on May 16 to celebrate outstanding achievements in Colorado high school musical theatre.

2025 Bobby G Awards. Photo by McLeod9 Creative

Known as The Bobby G Awards, the state-wide high school musical theatre program recognizes students and educators in the areas of performance, design, direction, choreography, stage management, orchestration, technical production, and overall production excellence. The awards ceremony serves as an opportunity for the DCPA to honor Colorado musical theatre programs and for students to celebrate and support each other.

Schools from across Colorado apply to participate in the program – this year there were 53 participating schools from 18 different counties. After the application process is complete, local theatre professionals adjudicate the schools’ productions, providing scores in 14 designated categories. The adjudicators also provide feedback to the schools.

Once all productions are adjudicated, the schools receive nominations, plus special achievement awards each year. For the 2025 Bobby G Awards, two schools tied with 12 nominations for their respective productions: Durango High School’s production of Hadestown: Teen Edition and Fossil Ridge High School’s production of Carrie: The Musical.

Cami Nugent and Connor O’Brian, 2025 Bobby G Award Hosts. Photo by McLeod9 Creative

The awards ceremony is an annual highlight not just for nominated students, but for the entire theatre community in Colorado. When attending a sporting event or competition, everyone roots for their own team. But when attending the Bobby G Awards, the entire audience – no matter which school or county they’re from – brings the house down for whoever wins the award.

There isn’t a sense of competition at the ceremony, only of connectivity, support, and true appreciation for the arts.

This year’s ceremony was hosted by 2023 Lead Performer winners Cami Nugent and Connor O’Brian, plus some surprise guests including 2022 Lead Performer winner Madison Manning.

Lutheran High School, Newsies. 2025 Bobby G Awards. Photo by McLeod9 Creative

Performances by the five nominated Outstanding Production schools took place throughout the evening. Guests were delighted to see songs from Hadestown: Teen Edition performed by Durango High School and The Arts Academy at Pueblo County High School, Newsies performed by Vista Ridge High School and Lutheran High School, and Carrie: The Musical performed by Fossil Ridge High School.

An unforgettable moment of the night was the impassioned speech given by students from Denver North High School, who received a new award – The Spirit of the Bobby G’s Award. This award was created to recognize a high school program whose student-centered initiatives and community engagement efforts have gone above and beyond any of the Bobby G nominated categories. Annika Davenport, Greta Chiodini, Maxwell Gonzales, and Christopher Pettis Jr spoke eloquently and fervently about the importance of inclusivity in theatre. Gonzalez ended his speech with the rallying cry, “¡Sí, se puede!”

Lead Performer Nominees. 2025 Bobby G Awards. Photo by McLeod9 Creative

But the closing song of the evening, a medley sung by the ten Lead Performer nominees and kicked off by the previous year’s winners, brought the theatre to their feet. 2024 winners Gabi Karl and Caleb Kezeor launched into “Since U Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson and were joined by Nathaniel Bicha, Kayden Deagle, Grayson Graham, Marcus Grattan, Laya Greenacre, Elliet Johnson, Maylis Morales Ortega, Noah Oury, and Gillian Reynolds. Each performed a brief solo to raucous applause throughout the medley.

After receiving 12 nominations, Fossil Ridge High School took home five awards, including Outstanding Achievement in Musical Direction, Hair & Make-Up Design, and Orchestra. Lutheran High School received three awards in highly anticipated categories, including Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical. Grayson Graham took home one of the Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role awards; Hannah Schnorr from Fossil Ridge received the other.

Grayson and Hannah will be invited to represent Colorado at the Jimmy Awards on Broadway, formally known as the National High School Musical Theatre Awards. The event will take place on June 23 at the Minskoff Theatre, home of Disney’s The Lion King. Visit jimmyawards.com to learn more and watch the livestream of the event next month!