The DPAC Rising Star Awards FAQs

Thanks to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, DPAC, and other important community partners, sponsors, and volunteers, The DPAC Rising Star Awards are free for participating schools and students.

The DPAC Rising Star Awards program is open to public and private high schools producing musical theatre in central North Carolina. To be eligible, schools must meet the following three requirements:

• The school must be located within our designated region, which includes the following counties: Alamance, Caswell, Chatham, Cumberland, Davidson, Durham, Edgecombe, Forsyth, Franklin, Granville, Greene, Guilford, Halifax, Harnett, Hoke, Johnston, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, Nash, Orange, Person, Randolf, Rockingham, Sampson, Stokes, Vance, Wake, Warren, Wayne, Wilson.
• The musical must be scheduled within The DPAC Rising Star Awards' adjudication window.
• The musical must be deemed "eligible" by the National High School Musical Theatre Awards.

For more details regarding these three eligibility requirements, please reference page 5 of this season's handbook.

DPAC will send judges to review each registered musical. These judges will gather in the spring to discuss each show and nominated student, and together they will decide the Finalists in each awards category, including twenty student performers who will be in the running for the Best Actor and Best Actress awards. The twenty student Finalists will be reviewed by a panel of three highly esteemed judges. These three judges will adjudicate Finalist performances live during The DPAC Rising Star Awards ceremony, and their submitted scores will determine the two students who win Best Actor and Best Actress.

For more details about the adjudication process, including details about who the judges are and the rubrics they use when scoring, please reference pages 25-35 of this season's handbook.

Yes, each participating school is allowed to register up to two musicals.

Yes. However, only high school students are eligible for nomination to any student-specific awards category (such as: Best Student Costume Design, or Best Actor and Best Actress).

We ask that all registered musicals refrain from double casting. When a musical is double cast, it becomes incredible difficult for DPAC to provide even and fair judge coverage for that show. More information can be found on page 13 of this season's handbook.

The DPAC Rising Star Awards welcomes and supports students of all gender identities. The awards category names "Best Actor" and "Best Actress" align with the current structure and language used by the National High School Musical Theatre Awards. While these two awards category names are gendered, students are encouraged to be nominated in the category that feels most appropriate and affirming to them.

DPAC also supports any decisions to play with gender bending when casting. If you cast a female identifying student in a traditionally male role, that student can be nominated for Best Actress (or vice-versa).

If you have any questions about nominating a non-binary or gender diverse student, please contact Megan Rindoks at mrindoks@dpacnc.com for further guidance.

No. Our apologies, but any nominated students must be currently enrolled at your school.

The DPAC Rising Star Awards accepts up to four student performance nominations. It is up to each school how those nominations are determined. Each student who is nominated must be cast in a "Qualifying Role" as outlined by the National High School Musical Theatre Awards. More information can be found on pages 16-17 of this season's handbook.

Please email Megan Rindoks, DPAC's Director of Community Engagement, at mrindoks@dpacnc.com.