What are awards worth? Not much.

Unless it’s an Oscar or a Tony, the only gold you’re likely to see from a performing arts award is sitting on your mantelpiece.
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The Helpmann Awards, Melbourne’s Green Room Awards, the Matilda Awards in Brisbane, Adelaide’s Ruby Awards, the Sydney Theatre Awards and others: their recipients may be talked up in media releases, but what impact do such performing arts awards have – in concrete terms – for the individuals and organisations who win them?

While the feelgood factor is high, across the sector, there’s a widely held perception that awards have little impact on ticket sales.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts