Standard Bank Ovation Awards

The Standard Bank Ovation Awards are awarded by a panel of anonymous reviewers to productions on the Fringe Festival Programme at the National Arts Festival. The panel members see shows on the Fringe and meet daily to discuss the awarding of winners.

The awards, which are given throughout the Festival, recognise 'artistic innovation, excellence, the exploration of new performance styles and the courage to open new conversation through the arts'; they are awarded to productions that are noticeable for being a cut above, well received by audiences – and that leave a lasting impression. The Standard Bank Ovation Awards help audiences – and producers – to identify quality work on the Fringe Festival Programme. They also act as a bridge between the Fringe and the Main programme, with all winning productions invited to put forward proposals for the Arena programme.

History

The Standard Bank Ovation Awards have been presented at the National Arts Festival since 2010. During the inaugural year, every Fringe production was eligible to be considered. However, from 2011, only fringe productions that have not been staged for more than two consecutive years qualify.

Awards Panel and Criteria

The nominations for the Standard Bank Ovation Awards are made by a panel of Cue reviewers and accredited professional media. A select number of knowledgeable and specialist arts professionals appointed by the National Arts Festival comprise an evaluation panel which functions anonymously. The panellists' identities are revealed only after the final announcement of the Standard Bank Ovation Awards winners.

The panel consists of at least one specialist in each of the following genres in which an award is be presented: Theatre; Comedy; Music (excluding Jazz); Dance; Physical Theatre; Performance Poetry/Storytelling; Multi-disciplinary arts.

The following criteria are considered by the panel when reviewing a production for the Standard Bank Ovation Awards:

strength of production (taking into consideration the various creative and technical elements);
quality of performances, writing & directing; conceptualisation, innovation & originality (does the work create new directions?);
potential longevity? (does the production deserve to have a life beyond the Festival? Will a Standard Bank Ovation place it under the radar of a potential management, funder or festival?);
overall impact of the production

Awards are given typically in three categories: Gold, Silver and Bronze. Others have included:

Encore Award, awarded to a young company performing at the Festival for the first time, which shows great promise for the future and which the Festival hopes will return in years to come
The Standing Ovation Award, presented for a company that has over a sustained period of time, contributed to the overall standard of excellence on the Fringe

Standard Bank Ovation Awards Winners

Some winners of Standard Bank Ovation Awards at previous Festivals include:

2018 Featured Artist Mamela Nyamza – Okutya Phantsi Kwempumlo/The Meal (2012)

2018 Standard Bank Young Artist for Music Guy Buttery – Gold Ovation Award (2010), plus five Ovation Awards

2018 Standard Bank Young Artist for Theatre Jemma Kahn – Two Silver Awards (The Epicene Butcher and Other Stories for Consenting Adults in 2012; We Didn’t Come to Hell for the Croissants: 7 Deadly New Stories in 2015)

Gavin Krastin (#OMNOMNOM)

Artscape Theatre – 15 productions; one in partnership

Kalk Bay Theatre – seven, including four in partnership

ExploSIV Productions – six, with one in partnership

2010:

Gold: Theatre: London Road (KBT Productions); Physical Theatre: Butcher Brothers (Dark Laugh Theatre); Dance: Graduation Rites (Tshwane University of Technology); Comedy: Dekaf (David Newton Productions); Music: Guy Buttery

Silver: Theatre: Karoo Moose (Baxter Theatre Centre in association with MOPO Productions); ...Miskien (The Pink Couch); Breed (Ubom! Eastern Cape Drama Company); Physical Theatre: Elev(i)ate2 (Athena Mazarakis); Inua (Baba Yaga Theatre – Denmark); Liquid Project (for Bloodshot and System Dop); Music: Nibs van der Spuy; Meri Kenaz

The Encore Award: The Soil (Vumile Nomanyama)

The Standing Ovation Award: Theatre for Africa (Nicholas Ellenbogen and Luke Ellenbogen)

Gold winners received a prize of R5 000, while the Silver winners received a R1 000 each.

2015:

Gold: Asanda Mqiki; El Blanco: Tales of the Mariachi by Gwydion Beynon, performed by James Cairns; and Greig Coetzee’s Johnny Boskak is Feeling Funny, directed by Roslyn Wood-Morris, performed by Craig Morris.

Silver: A Man And a Dog, written and featuring Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, directed by Penelope Youngelson; We Didn’t Come to Hell for Croissants: 7 Deadly New Stories for Consenting Adults, featuring Jemma Kahn and Roberto Pombo, directed by Lindiwe Matshikiza; Morwa the Rising Sun, written and featuring Tefo Paya; Phala O Phala’s production of Kafka’s Ape, featuring Tony Bonani Miyambo; Father, Father, Father!, directed by Toni Morkel; Barbed Wire Wallpaper, choreographed and directed by Nondumiso Lwazi Msimanga; and Hatchetman.

2016:

The full list of winners for 2016 are as follows:

COMPANY: Rust Co-Operative

PRODUCTION: Sillage

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Gold

COMPANY: Artscape

PRODUCTION: Ityala Lamawele

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Silver

COMPANY: Alan Parker

PRODUCTION: Sacre for One

GENRE: Dance

AWARD: Silver

COMPANY: Rust Co-Operative

PRODUCTION: The Graveyard

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Silver

COMPANY: Artscape

PRODUCTION: Die Glas Ennie Draad

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Silver

COMPANY: Explosiv Productions

PRODUCTION: Dangled

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Silver

COMPANY: Kristin Hua NG-Yang

PRODUCTION: BIRD/FISH

GENRE: Dance

AWARD: Ovation

COMPANY: Matt Newman

PRODUCTION: Cock

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Ovation

COMPANY: Sibikwa Arts Centre

PRODUCTION: Chapter 2 Section 9

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Ovation

COMPANY: Theatre for Africa

PRODUCTION: Ebola

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Ovation

COMPANY: Uyabona Ke

PRODUCTION: Falling Off the Horn

GENRE: Physical Theatre

AWARD: Ovation

COMPANY: Artscape

PRODUCTION: Henrietta with Love

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Ovation

COMPANY: One Shushu Day Artistry

PRODUCTION: Msaki and the Golden Circle

GENRE: Music

AWARD: Ovation

COMPANY: Nombasa

PRODUCTION: Nombasa

GENRE: Music

AWARD: Ovation

COMPANY: Hungry Minds Productions

PRODUCTION: Out of Bounds

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Ovation

COMPANY: Lebo Leisa

PRODUCTION: Paleho

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Ovation

COMPANY:Neo Motsatse

PRODUCTION: The Concert

GENRE: Music

AWARD: Ovation

COMPANY: Bloom & Stone

PRODUCTION: Tease!

GENRE: Comedy

AWARD: Ovation

COMPANY: Liquid Fusion

PRODUCTION: Burn

GENRE: Dance

AWARD: Ovation

COMPANY: Moving into Dance Mophatong

PRODUCTION ‘...feathers...’

GENRE: Dance

AWARD: Ovation

COMPANY: Klara van Wyk

PRODUCTION: You Suck: and Other Inescapable Truths

GENRE: Comedy

AWARD: Ovation

COMPANY: UJ Arts & Culture (a Division of FADA)

PRODUCTION: For Coloured Girls Who Have Considered Suicide when the Rainbow is Enuf

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Ovation

COMPANY: Lexi Meier

PRODUCTION: Fabric of the Universe

GENRE: Performance Art

AWARD: Ovation

COMPANY: ExploSIV Productions

PRODUCTION: Thenx Presents Aza-Nya is Five-To

GENRE: Comedy

AWARD: Ovation

COMPANY: Daneel van der Walt

PRODUCTION: Dani and the Lion

GENRE: Cabaret

AWARD: Ovation

COMPANY: Sibonele Dance Project

PRODUCTION: Abangawona (The Unseen)

GENRE: Dance

AWARD: Merit

COMPANY:Umsindo Theatre Projects

PRODUCTION: 10 Days in a Shebeen

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Merit

COMPANY: Slindile Mthembu

PRODUCTION: Milked Voice

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Merit

COMPANY: Well Worn Theatre Co

PRODUCTION: Rat Race

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Merit

COMPANY: Outreach Foundation (Hillbrow Theatre)

PRODUCTION: Isaro

GENRE: Theatre

AWARD: Merit

COMPANY: ExploSIV Productions

PRODUCTION: The Dark Ages

GENRE: Comedy

AWARD: Encore

The 2016 Standard Bank Standing Ovation Award was presented to the French Institute of South Africa and the Embassy of France for two decades of supporting visionary collaborations and exchanges between South African and French artists.

A Standard Bank Standing Ovation Award was also presented to Gary Gordon to honour his longstanding creative energy in South Africa’s cultural life and his enormously significant contributions to the vitality of the National Arts Festival’s Main, Fringe and Arena programmes.

A surprise Standing Ovation Award was presented to Ismail Mahomed who ends his tenure as Artistic Director of the National Arts Festival at the end of July. Speaking at the announcement, National Arts Festival CEO, Tony Lankester, recognised the nine-year commitment that Mahomed had made to the Festival, saying that he had “transformed the programme, filled it with richness and left a lasting legacy of excellence”.

The Adelaide Tambo Human Rights Award

The 2016 Adelaide Tambo Award for Human Rights is presented to Drama for Life, a global leader in the integrated approach to arts for social transformation and healing. Their performances and public engagement initiatives explore, serve and grow the role of arts for social change. At the 2016 National Arts Festival, Drama For Life presented Afri-Queer, a production that brought together artists from across South Africa’s borders to give a voice that humanises and gives dignity to those who continue to be oppressed. Drama for Life has also devised and executed the Festival’s 2016 Remix Laboratory programme.

2018:

The following 2018 Standard Bank Ovation Awards were awarded in 2018 at the Monument on the 8th July 2018

Gold Standard Bank Ovation Award winners: MEDUMO YA BORWA (The best African Song and Dance thriller); J. BOBS LIVE: OFF THE RECORD – Jefferson Tshabalala; SULLIED –Kirsti-Leigh Gresse

Silver Standard Bank Ovation Award winners: BLUE PERIOD OF MILTON VAN DER SPUY – Hexagon Theatre; THE REVLON GIRL – Search for Productions; EMATHONGENI – Amandla Dança Teatro ZA; MARENE – Marene; HACHETMAN

Standard Bank Ovation Winners: ANDY NDLAZILWANA; DECEPTIVE DELIGHTS WITH STUART LIGHTBODY – Stuart Lightbody; DUO KP – Peter Cartwright; GARY THOMAS: MOODSHIP – Gary Thomas; GASLIGHT – Laine Butler; I’M HIV AND LIVING – Thando Mbulelo Mbanjwa; LETTERS WITH MA’SISULU – FMA-Neo Motsatse; MEDUSA INCARNATE – Kate Pinchuck in collaboration with The Furies; NOMABOTWE SINGS; PHOKWANE CHRONICLES – Galeshewe Theatre Organisation; SAINTHOOD – Tiisetso Mashifane wa Noni; SILKWORM – Contagious; THE DEAD CHANT IN DEATH – Tshwane University of Technology; THE ISLAND – Paxinos Productions & CYBTT; TSWALO – Theatreduo; UNONO OBUYILE – Lumunyano Dance Group

Standard Bank Ovation Encore Award winners Standard Bank Ovation Encore Awards recognise merit and potential in works that can be developed.: BEST FRIENDS/WORST ENEMIES; CHOIR BOY; INGOMA; LIFT CLUB; LOVE IN THE TIME OF REVOLUTION; MOTSWADI; NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION;  SATANIC DAGGA ORGY; UDAKA

MERIT: DEVILS AT A DEAD END

Ovations Award panel

Judges of the 2018 panel were: Tracey Saunders (convenor), Alon Nashman, Amelda Brand, Andrew Mulenga, Gopala Davies, Greg MacArthur, Hugo Theart, Kiroshan Naidoo, Luvuyo Yanta, Marcus Desando, Motlatji Ditodi, Namisa Mdlalose, Octavian Siau, Phemelo Helleman, Rafiek Mammon, Reggie Danster, Temba Ncetani and Thulani Nongogo.

2020:

Gold: Women Hold Up The Sky (WoMin African Alliance); The King of Broken Things (Theatresmiths)

Silver: “Jazz in the theatre” featuring: Chadleigh Gowar (44 on Long (Pty) Ltd); Next! (Wela Kapela Productions); Beast In Him (Masifunde’s Academy of Creativity); Ouma Lilly & haar Klong (Vulture Productions)

Bronze: Once Upon A Circus (Zip Zap Circus); Inyange Speaks (Simbone Inyange); Mnquma (Xolisile Bongwana); What Falling Feels Like (Nicola Pilkington, Joe Young and Jade Delmage)

Cash prizes are part of the Standard Bank Ovations Award package with the Standard Bank Bronze Ovation Awards recipients winning R 3000 each, Standard Bank Ovation Silver Awards recipients receive R 6000 each, and productions winning Gold Awards take home R10 000 each.

2021:

Gold: The Shack (Totem Productions); Gone but not Forgotten (Gowar Creative Hub)

Silver: Initiation (Is’Thatha Dance Project); Verloren (Spark in the Dark); The Core (AFDA Johannesburg); Wet & Dry (Cia Paraladosanjos); Mobile Inertia (Siphumeze Khundayi); Ruth (Love and Race Productions); Torinaoshi (Tsukuba Indy (LLC)); (extra) ordinary, (un) usual (F Creations); Old Soul Waiting (Mabu Art Foundation); Buya (Mathetha Dances)

Bronze: DE|COMPOSITION (Response-Ability/Revolution Movement); Dear Donald, Dear Hillary (Their Secret Correspondence) (Sally Vahle); The Joy of Symphonic Music – Concert 2 (KZN Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lykele Temmingh); Umhlaba Ophezulu/Higher Ground (Iva Collective); Liminal – Documentary (Joy Film Productions); Dipalo_The Audio Version (Assitej SA); Acapella Street Corners (Chamber Ensemble)

Gold Standard Bank Ovation winners are awarded a cash prize of R 10 000, Silver Standard Bank Ovation Award winners are given R 5 000 and Bronze Standard Bank Ovation Award winners take home R 2 500.