It was encore, encore, encore for Westholme School at the National Operatic and Dramatic Association awards, with the Pleasington school scooping three awards at the ceremony at the Mercure Dunkenhalgh Hotel, Blackburn.
Westholme received the ReAct Academy Megan Lees Award for Best Youth Ensemble for their 2023 production of Fame and the North West District 3 winner for Best Youth Musical for the same production. Director of Performing Arts at the school, Amy Holland, was also presented with North West District 3 for Best Director of a Youth Musical for Matilda The Musical.
Amy Holland said: “We were all very excited to be there and it was lovely to put on our finery and celebrate the talents of our wonderful students. To be nominated was such an achievement and then to win three categories was such an honour and testament to all involved.
“I feel very proud of our students and to be a part of the Westholme family. To have the opportunity to direct and work with such talented and hardworking students is a privilege.
“We are so delighted to have won these awards and cannot wait to invite NODA to our forthcoming production of Les Misérables in March. The students are working so hard in rehearsals and are so eager to take to the stage again.”
Westholme’s next production – Les Misérables – takes place over a five-night run from 5-9 March 2024 at the school’s Croston Theatre.
NODA was formed in 1899 and has enjoyed well over 100 years of service to the amateur theatre, recognising its members’ performances through a series of regional awards each year, across the UK with the North West ceremony taking place each January.