Betty Award


Betty Mitchell Awards were created in 1998 to celebrate and honor outstanding achievement in Calgary's professional theatre community. It is commonly called the Betty Award and is named for Calgary theatre pioneer Dr. Betty Mitchell.

Awards

The awards ceremony for the 2018–19 season was held on June 24 at the Vertigo Theatre in Calgary.
In 2019, Pakistani-Canadian actor Ahad Raza Mir, the first Pakistani actor to play Hamlet in Canada, won the Betty for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Drama for his performance of the title role In that same year Tiffany Ayalik became the first Inuit recipient of a Betty Award.

Categories

Awards are given in the following categories:
2019--
2019Nicolas DotsieBOOM X
2019Bretta GereckeThe Invisible Agents of Ungentlemanly Warfare
2019Amelia ScottA Love Letter to Emily C
2019Andy MoroHonour Beat
2019Elaine J. McCarthyEverest
2018--
2018Jamie NesbittNine Dragons
2018Remy SiuEmpire of the Son
2018T. Erin GruberEaster Island
2018Corwin FergusonJulius Caesar
2018Amelia ScottTo the Light
2017--
2017Corwin FergusonRichard III
2017David LeclercBOOM
2017Jamie NesbittThe Big Sleep
2017Amelia Scott with illustrations by Tyler JenkinsCrime Does Not Pay
2017JP ThibodeauLest We Forget
2016--
2016Jamie NesbittCalamity Town
2016Sean NieuwenhuisThe Little Prince
2016Scott ReidDie Tote Stadt
2016JP ThibodeauThe Boy’s Own Jedi Handbook
2016Amelia Scott and Joel AdriaCockroach
2015--
2015Andrzej GouldingSilent Night
2015Jamie NesbittLiberation Days
2015Jamie NesbittFarewell, My Lovely
2015Kalyna ConradLegoland
2015Wladimiro A. Woyno R., Matthew Waddell and Laura AnzolaThe Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst
2014--
2014Kaely Dekkern00b
2014Corwin FergusonYou Will Remember Me
2014T. Erin GruberA Bomb in the Heart
2014Jamie NesbittThe Hound of the Baskervilles
2014Sean NieuwenhuisThe Mountaintop

Statue update

The original Betty Mitchell Award statue, designed by local Calgary sculptor, Petronella Overes, was inspired by the geography surrounding Calgary. It was a steel base containing a glass monolith with motifs of mountains and prairies. In 2007 for the 10th anniversary of the awards she redesigned it replacing the steel base with powder coated aluminum and increased the contrast in the tone and texture of the awards metal and glass.
The Award received its most recent design update in 2014 when the Overes design was replaced with a multi-color teardrop-shaped glass sculpture created by a local glass blowing collective, Bee Kingdom Glass. Being hand blown each one is unique.