Terms for Production Submission

Eligibility for Nomination

(a) For the CONDA judges to determine a production is eligible for nomination for a CONDA Award, all of the following requirements must be satisfied:

i. The production must, in the judgement of the CONDA judges, be a legitimate theatrical production, which officially opens after the final eligibility date for the prior season and on or before the final eligibility date for the current season. The CONDA season generally opens on 1 November each year and runs through to 31 October the following year.

ii. The producer of the production must, in a timely manner and free-of-charge, invite each of the eligible CONDA judges, providing up to two tickets per judge, to attend one of the performances. The producer must do this by filling in an online Eligibility Form (located on the CONDA website: conda.com.au). The producer should provide the judges with three (3) weeks’ notice in advance of the production's opening. Giving less than 3 weeks’ notice means the production may not be seen by the minimum required number of judges, which may limit opportunity for CONDA consideration.

iii. Any show which does not submit their production prior to opening night will not be eligible for nomination.

iv. The producer must accept the authority of the judges to make all decisions or determinations concerning nominations for the awards, with the effect of any such decision or determination being final, binding and conclusive for all purposes.

v. The producer must provide each of the judges with a copy of the printed production program.

vi. The producer must provide the judges (and their accomplices, where applicable), with good seats – no restricted viewing.

vii. A production requires the attendance of at least three CONDA judges to be considered eligible for nomination. If fewer than three judges attend, the production will be deemed ineligible.

viii. The producer must email production images to hello@conda.com.au within 14 days of the final performance. These images may be used on the CONDA website as well as in the awards ceremony program and/or visual presentations.

ix. The producer, or their representative, must attend the Nominations Launch (generally held mid-to-late November) and encourage cast and crew to also attend.

(b) For a production to be eligible in the category of Best New Play or Musical Written for a Newcastle Company, the production may contain elements which substantially duplicate elements of productions previously presented in an eligible production only if the duplicated and the original elements, in their totality, create a new play or musical. This decision is to be made at the discretion of the judges.

(c) Return seasons: productions which have previously been considered and may have received CONDA Awards are still to be considered, however, return seasons cannot be judged in the same context as their initial run. They generally need to show a substantive change or adjustment in impression which recontextualises or expands upon the original season.

(d) If a CONDA judge has an interest of any nature in a particular production, the judge shall disclose such interest as early as possible. The production is still to be considered for nomination. However, precautions are to be taken in each round of discussion to eliminate the opportunity of bias on the part of an ‘involved’ judge. In the Nomination Discussion Round, any ‘involved’ judges cannot be present when the production in question is being discussed. In the Finalising Nominations Round, any ‘involved’ judges cannot discuss or advocate for the nomination of the show in question – the inclusion of said show is left to the remaining judges. In the Finalising Winners Round, ‘involved’ judges give their votes first, to minimise the possibility of strategic voting. Additionally, ‘involved’ judges cannot advocate or vote for their own production, reducing that production’s likelihood of winning. This reduction in likelihood proportionally scales with the number of judges involved. In turn, the area the CONDA judge is involved in must not be considered. For example, if the judge performed in the show, they cannot be considered in the performer category. If the judge is the director, the show cannot be considered in the Best Play or Best Musical categories.

(e) To be considered for an award in the relevant category, production elements such as set, technical and costumes must be purpose built for the production. Elements which are hired from another company and are not significantly altered, will not be considered. This information must be disclosed to the judges when submitting the Nomination Form.

(f) Determination of Eligible Candidates for Nomination:

i. There shall be no more than eight nominees in each category.

ii. Where there are two or fewer eligible nominees, it is up to the discretion of the judges whether the category runs.

iii. In determining in which award category any eligible candidate (person or production) shall be placed, the judges shall use the form submitted by the company and the opening night program as its guide.

(g) If the producer of a production wishes to propose a nominee be placed in a category other than the one most likely to be chosen by the judges, the producer must send a written request to CONDA via the CONDA Secretary: hello@conda.com.au. The email must set forth their reasons for asking the judging panel to consider such a change. The CONDA judges will consider and vote on the requested change. The outcome will be advised in writing to the producer.

(h) Only productions produced by a theatre company local to the Newcastle NSW Region, within a 40km radius of the Newcastle CBD, are eligible for the CONDA Awards.

All producers, cast and crew should:

  • Acknowledge that CONDA judges are volunteers who give their time freely and receive no remuneration for their services.
  • Understand the judging panel is independent of the CONDA committee.
  • Be encouraging of the judging process and supportive of the judging decisions.
  • Acknowledge that for each individual category, there is a criteria judges must adhere to, in order to remove subjectivity from their assessments.
  • Understand that, even if a production is eligible, it does not guarantee nominations.
  • Accept the CONDA philosophy of being encouraging and supportive of all local theatre.

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