The Robert Finley Awards Rules and Regulations

Entry fees and forms

For a production to be adjudicated, the Company/School will need to become a member of the ITA. This is done by completing the application form and paying the necessary membership fee. Once this is completed, the company/school should complete the Finley Entry Form as applicable.

Entry forms are digital (available at www.ita.org.au) and must be completed at least eight (8) weeks before opening night. Productions may be submitted after this deadline, however they will attract a $50 late fee on top of the standard entry fee, and will be subject to adjudicator availability. If the show cannot be adjudicated, the entry fee will be refunded.

The schedule of entry fees for full length plays and musicals are:

• Perth/Peel productions: $120 per production, or $100 per production when entering the full season by 31 January

• Regional productions: $190 per production, or $160 per production when entering the full season by 31 January

The schedule of entry fees for one acts are:

• Perth/Peel productions: $40 per production, capped at $120 where multiple one acts are entered from the same season

• Regional productions: $65 per production, capped at $190 where multiple one acts are entered from the same season

Adjudicators will contact the noted Company contact or Box Office to arrange tickets to attend each production. Each Company/School will make available to each adjudicator two complimentary tickets (if required) and one complimentary program per adjudicator upon attendance.

There are three categories for productions to be entered into:

• Musical (including Pantomimes)

• Play

• One Act (formerly known as Dramafest)

Member clubs are responsible for choosing the category in which their production belongs and nominating this on your entry form.

Eligibility

Productions must be recognised as a community theatre production. Anyone receiving payment (including honorariums) for their services will not be eligible for a Robert Finley Award. Payment for service or participation may also affect the eligibility of the production for other awards detailed below. Where an aspect of a production is not consistent with the mission of the Robert Finley Awards, for example, where someone has been paid, the theatre should indicate on its application that this has occurred.

Productions must be "theatre" and not other forms of performing art. Music, dance and choral productions, talent or variety shows, non-published musical revues, and workshops of a member theatre are not eligible.

Productions must run for multiple performances with at least two performances over a one week period and be open to the general public in Western Australia (unless the audience is restricted by the rights of a play/musical). 

Entries in the One Act category must be no longer than fifty (50) minutes in duration, and no shorter than twenty (20) minutes. Productions must have at least two (2) cast members. Performances that run over the permitted length

Productions must be performed during the eligibility year, which runs from 1st December to 30th November the following year. Productions opening during the last week of the eligibility year must have the majority number of performances in the current year. If not, the production will be eligible for the following year’s awards. 

Professional productions, including co-op organisations and profit-share productions, and productions by non-members organisation, are not eligible for entry into the Robert Finley Awards. 

Co-productions are allowed only if the following conditions are met: 

• All the producing theatres are ITA members. 

• All co-productions must be submitted under one ITA member theatre. 

• That theatre will be the point of contact for the production. 

• All theatre level awards (eg: Best Production) will be awarded to the theatre that submitted the production.

To be eligible for the Best Youth Production, 100% of the on-stage cast in the production must be 18 years or under as of the opening night of the production. 

To be eligible for a Best Youth in a Play or Musical, a cast member must be 18 years or under as at the opening night of the production. Companies should state the age of any Junior Performers in a non-Youth production on the Finley Entry Form. 

In the event that a production is double cast, or a role is double cast, only one cast may be submitted for adjudication, and this cast must be indicated on your Finley Entry Form. If a cast is not indicated then no role where a double or dual casting exists will be eligible for nomination as a lead.

All productions entered into the Robert Finley Awards must have the authorisation of the relevant rights holders. It is the responsibility of the entrant to obtain permission for the performance and to pay the appropriate royalty fee in advance. The entrant is required to certify that this has been done: a disclaimer is part of the entry form and must be completed before any entry will be accepted. All alterations to a script must be approved by the author or his/her representative or estate. The ITA can request evidence of rights permission at any time. Any Company/School found to not have the required permission to stage a production will not be eligible for any award for that production. In this instance, entry fees will not be refundable.

The eligibility of any awards is the final determination of the ITA Committee. 

Production Eligibility

No person in a production is to receive any form of remuneration for participation in the production, including honorariums. Complimentary tickets may be given to participants as a thank you from the theatre if all participants are given the same consideration. If the ITA Committee determines that a person(s) has received any form of remuneration, the ITA Committee may consider eliminating the person and relevant nominated areas from consideration, or to remove the entire production from consideration. Where there is a legal requirement for work to be undertaken by a licensed person such as an electrician, rigger, plumber or carpenter who requires payment, this is exempt from any payment conditions imposed by these rules.

Personal eligibility

A person who has or will receive remuneration in any form for services relative to a production being adjudicated in competition shall not be eligible for any award. In addition, the production itself may not be considered for the Best Production categories of the Finley Awards. It shall be the duty of the representative of the theatre to notify the ITA in advance of the production that the role is disqualified from the Robert Finley Award consideration. To be eligible for an award, the performer must not receive remuneration for the performance or for working in or on a production. The only exception to this rule is the reimbursement of costs associated with purchasing items for the production. Ultimately, the final decision regarding any person’s eligibility will be made by the ITA Committee. If it is discovered that a Company/School has remunerated a person, in a manner other than reimbursement, without declaring it to the ITA, they will be disqualified from the Awards for all entered productions and no refund of entry fees will be given.

Effect of ineligibility for an award through remuneration

The remuneration of the participant will make the participant ineligible for any individual award. These are:

• The Yvonne Lynch Breakthrough Award

• The Brian Maddocks Award for Youth in A Play

• The Veronica Overton-Low Award for Youth in A Musical

• The Yvonne Hough-Neilson Adjudicators Award

• The Jenny McNae Adjudicators Award (One Act)

• The Peter Kemeny Encouragement Award (One Act)

• Hywell Williams Award for Technical Achievement

• Best Director (Musical) – Mary Webb Award

• Best Choreographer

• Best Musical Director

• Best Costumes (Musical)*

• Best Set (Musical)

• Excellence in Lighting Design in a Musical - Jeff Hansen Award

• Best Actor (Musical)

• Best Actress (Musical)

• Best Supporting Actor (Musical)

• Best Supporting Actress (Musical)

• Best Director (Play) – Susan Hayward Award

• Best Costumes (Play) – The Brenda Stanley Award*

• Best Set (Play) – The David Crewes Award

• Excellence in Lighting Design in a Play - Pauline Lawrence Award

• Best Actor (Play)

• Best Actress (Play)

• Best Supporting Actor (Play)

• Best Supporting Actress (Play)

• Best Director (One Act) – Mike Binns Award

• Best Costumes (One Act) – The Peter Mann Award*

• Best Actor (One Act)

• Best Actress (One Act)

• Best Supporting Actor (One Act)

• Best Supporting Actress (One Act)

The remuneration of the participant will make the theatre/participant ineligible for the following club level awards:

• The Yvonne Hough-Neilson Adjudicators Award

• Hywell Williams Award for Technical Achievement

• Best Ensemble in a Play - The Terry Hackett Award

• Best Ensemble in a Musical - Carole Dhu Award

Except in the case of a rehearsal pianist where the pianist is playing for rehearsals only and not performing another function as part of the production, the remuneration of musicians will make the Musical Director ineligible for Best Musical Director. The remuneration of lead actors will make the Director ineligible for Best Director. The remuneration of directors, choreographers, musical directors, musicians or actors will make the production ineligible for:

• Best Youth Production

• The Robert Finley Award for Best Play

• The Robert Finley Award for Best Musical

• The Dorothy Barber Award for Best Overall Production (One Act)

• The Rob De Vaack Award for Most Innovative Production (One Act)

NOTE: Where costumes have been hired, or bought, the theatre/costume designer is still eligible for an award unless the costumes have been hired as a standard set for that production. For example, if a theatre staging “Fiddler on the Roof” hires the costumes of another company’s “Fiddler on the Roof” or buys costumes designed for a staging of “Fiddler on the Roof” then the designer/theatre is ineligible for the award. Where the production has been staged by the club previously and the same costumes are used the designer also becomes ineligible. Unless stated above, the ineligibility of an individual award or club award does not negate the awarding of other awards to that production. For example, a person ineligible for Best Musical Director does not make a lead actor/actress ineligible for a Best Actor or Actress award. Likewise, ineligibility for Best Youth Production, Best Play or Best Musical does not make a lead ineligible for Best Actor or Actress.

Penalties

Any breach of these Rules, whether deliberate or negligent may result in a disqualification. The ITA reserves the right to determine elements or the entirety of a production to be ineligible owing to a breach of the Rules.

Entrants acknowledge that the application fee will not be refunded.

Withdrawal of Nominations

Entries can be withdrawn by contacting the ITA Secretary.

As submissions to the Robert Finley Awards are made by member clubs, only the relevant member club can request for the withdrawal of a nomination in an applicable category.

Entrants acknowledge that fees associated with a production cannot be refunded after a performance has been adjudicated, or if adjudicators are in transit to the performance.

Other guidelines

Your entry form becomes the adjudicators notification form. If your theatre is in a larger facility, like a school, please also include directions from the car park to the theatre. 

Please notify the ITA immediately if you cancel or change a production that has been entered. 

Please make sure that the Box Office phone number is a number where the adjudicators can make an actual booking or leave a message about making a booking. 

Please make sure that the contact phone number is one that is monitored right up to curtain up, so the adjudicators can contact you if they get lost or need to notify you of a cancellation. If there is no box office, please provide the contact details of someone who can organise tickets for the adjudicator. 

Please have your box office keep track of the adjudicators reservations. You can help us by notifying the ITA ten days before closing night if adjudicators have not reserved tickets by then. 

Please ensure your programs acknowledge the correct cast, crew and creatives as adjudicators will use this when considering nominations for awards and adjudicators certificates. Any errors in the program may then flow through to erroneous nominations.

Member Clubs are responsible for engraving trophies from the Finley Awards and returning perpetual trophies to the ITA by 31 October in preparation for the following Finley Awards event.