Twelve finalists announced for Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year
The Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year competition – affectionately known as SSSSPOTY – was inaugurated in 2007, and in 2025 returns for its 17th year, with the gala final held, fittingly, at the Sondheim Theatre on 8 June.
Hosted by Olivier Award nominee Rosalie Craig (Company, West End), The Stephen Sondheim Society (a charitable trust founded in 1993) asked for the first round of auditions to be made via video. More than 330 submissions were received, 80 of which qualified for a live, in-person audition with this year’s Chair of Judges: Jenna Russell (Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George and Into the Woods) and Musical Director Nigel Lilley (Here We Are; Follies, National Theatre). As a result, twelve finalists were selected, with two students held in reserve.
The finalists are: Hasia Akwaboah (Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama), Sophie Anne Baker (Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama), Georgia Blessitt (RAM – Royal Academy of Music), Becky Bush (RADA – Royal Academy of Dramatic Art), Maria Collins (Arts1), Jamie Cushion (Trinity Laban), Rigby Edwards (Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama), Hudson Harden Scheel (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), Georgie Lagden (RAM – Royal Academy of Music), Ella McLaughlin (Emil Dale), Lotte Pearl (Bristol Old Vic Theatre School), and Nimi Spiff (Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts). The two reserves are: Jess Pratley (Arts Educational Schools), and Dominic Wood (Laine Theatre Arts).
The winner will receive £1,000 and the chance to headline their own Sondheim-infused cabaret in London. The runner-up is awarded £500.
The students will perform for a panel of highly respected judges drawn from West End directors, musical directors and performers. Jenna Russell, a patron of The Stephen Sondheim Society, will this year act as Chair of Judges, owing to regular Chair Edward Seckerson being indisposed. Among Jenna’s panel will be performer Clare Foster, Musical Director Catherine Jayes and composer Darren Clark.
Each finalist will be required to sing one song with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, plus a new song chosen by them from the selection at NEW UK MUSICALS – the organisation founded by the Olivier-Award-winning Benjamin Button composer Darren Clark to showcase the UK’s best new musical-theatre writing for the stage. It was the express wish of Mr Sondheim that for every one of his songs selected by the finalists, a new song is performed, in order to encourage and support the creation of new work.
The final will be directed by Hannah Chissick.
The Society is also excited to partner once again with the National Youth Music Theatre (NYMT), and look forward to featuring a performance by a chorus drawn from the current cohort of young performers.
The Society is thrilled to be debuting a song at the event by Schmigadoon! creator Cinco Paul, written for Ariana DeBose and Dove Cameron for the now-cancelled third season of the Apple TV series, which would have had a strong Sondheim flavour.
SSSSPOTY has an impressive track record for identifying young talent. Finalists have included Cynthia Erivo, Oscar Conlon-Morrey and Shaq Taylor, and winners include Alex Young, Taron Egerton, Turlough Convery, Erin Doherty, Stuart Thompson, Desmonda Cathabel and, most recently, Madeleine Morgan, who made her professional debut at the end of last year in Sondheim’s Road Show at Upstairs at the Gatehouse.
