Jimmy Awards Names Its 2018 Winners

The winners of the 10th annual Jimmy Awards were named last night, June 25, at the Minskoff Theatre where this year's 80 nominees performed in the showcase of high school musical theater talent. The award for Best Performance by an Actress went to Reneé Rapp from the Blumey Awards in Charlotte, North Carolina, while the award for Best Performance by an Actor went to Andrew Barth Feldman from the Roger Rees Awards in New York.

Rapp performed in the first medley of the night as Sandra Bloom from Big Fish and sang "All Falls Down" from Chaplin in the final round of solos. Feldman appeared in the evening's second medley as Frank Abagnale Jr. from Catch Me If You Can, and for his solo number, he performed "I Love Betsy" from Honeymoon in Vegas.

Both winners were presented with a check for $10,000 to further their education. They will also be eligible for a four-year merit and need-based scholarship to attend the New Studio on Broadway, NYU Tisch School of the Arts Department of Drama, contingent upon acceptance into the program.

The following six finalists each received a $3,000 scholarship toward their future education from BNY Mellon: Sabrina Astle (Spirit of the MACY Awards in La Mirada, California); Emily Escobar (Broadway Star of the Future Awards in Tampa, Florida); Darian Goulding (Illinois High School Musical Theatre Awards in Chicago); J.R. Heckman (Playhouse Square Dazzle Awards in Cleveland); Marisa Ines Moenho (Lucie Arnaz Awards in Palm Springs, California); and Riley Thad Young (The Orpheum High School Musical Theatre Awards in Memphis, Tennessee).

The production was directed by Van Kaplan and choreographed by Kiesha Lalama. Michael Moricz served as musical arranger and conductor and Mary Jane Brennan was the writer. All four have been with the Jimmy Awards for all 10 years.