The Award Process

The Carbonell Award process has been revised by the board of directors with input from the community. The new process for the 2021-2022 eligibility period is outlined below.

CARBONELL JUDGING PANELS:

  • The judging panel evaluates eligible productions to which they have been assigned by the Carbonell Coordinator. The judging panelists will complete and submit a score card to the Carbonell Coordinator within 72 hours of seeing their assigned production. A numerical scoring system determines the Carbonell Award nominations and subsequently determines the winners.

 JUDGING PANEL COMPOSITION:

The skills and experiences of the judging panelists vary considerably yet all have a great knowledge of the theatre, whether professionally (as directors, actors, designers, etc.), journalists, academically (professors of drama, language, etc.), or as experienced theatergoers.

The Carbonell Board is committed to creating diverse judging panels including diversity in age, gender, race, sexual orientation and ethnicity.

Please note this is a strictly volunteer opportunity. Serving as a Carbonell Awards judge requires a commitment of time, reliability, travel and adherence to ethical standards. Those serving as judges should have a passion for and openness to diversity and all kinds of theater, including plays, musicals, new work, classics, immersive theater and multidisciplinary theater and pledge to judge without bias.

JUDGE QUALIFICATIONS & REQUIREMENTS:

  • Judges should have the expertise to evaluate productions, with experience in one or more of the following:
    • An academic background in theater, either through past theater education or current affiliation with a college or university theater program.
    • Experience as an arts journalist covering theater.
    • Experience as a theater professional (e.g.: performer, director, playwright, designer, choreographer, arts administrator, producer, or musical director).
    • Experience in cultural outreach and theater support, particularly in underserved communities.
  • Judges may not have an ongoing affiliation with any Carbonell-eligible theater. If a conflict of interest arises with a specific production, the judge must make the Carbonell coordinator aware of the conflict and be recused from judging that production. Judges must also not be assigned to evaluate any production involving a spouse, partner or family member.
  • Potential judges must complete an application and be approved by the Carbonell Board of Directors.
  • Judges must sign a Carbonell Judge Agreement outlining their duties, responsibilities and commit to impartiality.
  • Judges donate their time and travel. There is no monetary compensation.
  • Judges must reside in South Florida (Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties).
  • Judges must have access to the Internet to receive information and forward reports.
  • Judges agree to reach out a minimum of two weeks in advance to request the approved number of Carbonell ticket(s) for any production to which they are assigned. They may attend the show at any point during its run, agreeing to be flexible about seeing matinee or evening performances to accommodate the theater’s available seating.
  • Judges must submit their score card to the Carbonell Coordinator no more than 72 hours following attending their assigned production.
  • Judges who cannot attend a production assigned to them must arrange to be covered by another judge.
  • Judges are required to attend all of the shows assigned. Any judge who misses a show without scheduling an authorized substitute will receive a warning and may be placed on probation with the understanding that if any other shows are missed, that individual may be removed immediately from the judging pool.
  • Members of the judging panel must report attendance to the Carbonell administration.
  • Judges must evaluate productions to which they have been assigned with complete impartiality and pledge to judge without bias.
  • Judges understand that they must keep their scores confidential. Unless a judge is also a Professional Reviewer, they will keep their opinions about the shows they judge confidential and will not discuss their opinions with anyone, nor post opinions on any form of social media.
  • Judges must immediately communicate to the Carbonell administration if, for any reason, there may be a real or perceived conflict of interest with any artist or theatre.

AWARD CONSIDERATION

1)   The Judging Process

  • The Carbonell Awards judging pool will include qualified judges from Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Each judge will have a designated “home” county (usually the county in which they reside).
  • The Carbonell Awards Coordinator assigns seven judges to attend each eligible production. Of the seven judges assigned, one will be a professional reviewer from the home county in which the production is mounted, four will be judges from the home county in which the production is mounted, one each from the other two counties. Judges may see the production at any point in the run but preferably on opening weekend or early in the run.
  • Each judge will complete a score card for the assigned production and forward it to the Carbonell Coordinator within 72 hours of seeing the production.
  • Any other qualified judge in the Carbonell Awards judging pool who has access and opportunity to see eligible productions they are not assigned to are free to submit a score card for that production. They will be responsible for obtaining their own tickets (no guarantee of Carbonell comp tickets from the producing theater). Any such judge must forward their score card to the Carbonell Coordinator within 72 hours of seeing the eligible production. The productions are under no obligation to provide additional tickets to judges who are not assigned to their production however, it is up to each theater’s discretion if they wish to provide additional comps or discounts to Carbonell judges and whether a theater provides additional tickets or discounts or not will not affect how any judge scores the work produced at that theater.

2)   The Nominating Process

  • Upon completion of the annual eligibility period, all score cards for all eligible productions and competitive categories within those productions will be tallied by an impartial entity.
  • The highest and lowest score for each competitive category in each eligible production will be eliminated and the remaining scores will be tallied and averaged by the number of score cards submitted less the two scores that were eliminated. For example, ten judges submitted a score card for a particular eligible production therefore, each competitive category for that production will have 10 scores. The highest and lowest score for each category will be eliminated and the 8 remaining scores will be totaled and divided by 8 to get the average score for that category.
  • The top 6 scores in all competitive categories across all eligible productions will be announced as the nominees in each category. The nominees will be announced several weeks prior to the Carbonell Awards Ceremony.

3)   The Recognition Process

  • Carbonell Awards Ceremony will be held annually at which the nominee with the highest number of points in each competitive category will be announced as the award recipient.