There are questions related to categories which did not receive nominations in this year’s Suncoast Student Production Awards. In order to foster clear communication and transparency among all submitters, we want to further explain that process.

This is neither a precedent-setting nor a unique circumstance. Categories with zero nominees occur annually, and over a wide variety of disciplines. For announcement purposes, categories are merged. If a category is not listed, it means there was either no entry in that category or no nominations.

Our Call for Entry states, “Entries are judged against a standard of excellence on their own merit and do not compete against each other. There may be one award, more than one award or no award given only to the eligible recipient(s) listed on each entry.” All entries in all categories are judged by qualified faculty and professionals with more than 5 years of experience in the industry. Entries in English are judged by English-speaking judges and entries in Spanish are judged by Spanish-speaking judges.

In order to receive a nomination, an entry must reach a threshold percentage of high scores. Entries with scores below that threshold do not receive a nomination.

In order to receive a Student Production award, entries much reach an even higher threshold.

Each year, we research the categories without nominations. We determined that all of the judges were qualified and their credentials are in order.