How are the smaller awards nominees decided?

[goodtimes123]

Posted: 4/22/26 at 9:07am

I know there are committees (each made up of critics, out of town reporters, etc) for the Drama League, OCC and Drama Desk, but how exactly are the nominees decided? Is it a panel that decides? Vote by ballot by nominators? 
 

Just curious as they seem so random year after year and really not indicative of what the Tonys will do. 

[little_sally]

Posted: 4/22/26 at 9:10am

The OCCs and Drama Desks have nominating committees who meet and vote on them.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/22/26 at 9:43am

little_sally said: "The OCCs and Drama Desks have nominating committees who meet and vote on them."

As do the Drama Leagues, Theatre World Awards, and Chita Rivera Awards. The nominating committees tend to be quite small, with much bigger voting committees.

My understanding is that there is a lot of discussion surrounding each category among the committee. This is not a “silently fill out a form” situation. So there’s a level of consensus and wealth-spreading among the group. 

Drama League best musical/play/revival nominees are something of a sham, because they want nominees to buy a table at their luncheon, one of the key fundraisers of the year for this org. So there are way more nominees than necessary.

Also important to remember that the Tony nominators are mostly artists, and there are ~40 of them. The DD and OCC nominators are “journalists” (loose term), and the Drama Leagues are mostly producers, and each committee has fewer than 10 people with no overlap among the Tony nominators.

Updated On: 4/22/26 at 09:43 AM