Carbonell Awards Names Michelle F. Solomon as Recipient of Charlie Cinnamon Award
The honor recognizes her decades of theater criticism and arts journalism across South Florida publications and newsrooms.
Gary Schweikhart, board president of the Carbonell Awards, South Florida's Theater & Arts Honors, has announced the recipient of the fifth of nine Special Awards that will be presented at the 49th annual Carbonell Awards Ceremony on Monday, November 16, at 7:30 pm at FAU's University Theatre in Boca Raton 33431.
“While we will be honoring specific people and productions in 20 competitive categories from approximately 100 shows presented between September 2025 and August 2026, the Carbonell board of directors has unanimously voted to also bestow this Special Award,” said Schweikhart.
About Michelle F. Solomon
As the editor of Artburstmiami and miamiartzine.com and theater critic for Artburstmiami, Michelle F. Solomon has been instrumental in ensuring comprehensive theater criticism and coverage for local and regional theater companies. She has spent her career chronicling the arts as a performer, journalist, editor, and on television as a reporter and producer. She began her journalism career as a theater critic and arts writer after earning a bachelor's degree from Emerson College, Boston, with majors in theater and mass communication and a master's degree from the State University of New York. She went on to become arts editor/writer at major newspapers, including the Albany Times Union and the Detroit Free Press. She then joined NBC affiliate WDIV-TV in Detroit as an on-air entertainment reporter and managing editor of New Media before serving as executive producer of New Media at ABC affiliate WPLG-Local 10 in Miami, where, among other special projects, she created the syndicated original true-crime podcast The Florida Files. Her theater reviews and feature stories are regularly republished by The Miami Herald, el Nuevo Herald, and other publications. Solomon also serves as a Carbonell judge and is assistant professor in the Department of Communication, Media and the Arts at Nova Southeastern University, where she teaches digital storytelling, television, and video production.
According to Brooke Noble at Actors' Playhouse, “At a time when arts coverage is increasingly scarce, Michelle Solomon has become one of the most important champions of our cultural community… She doesn't simply review productions; she tells the stories behind them. She takes the time to learn about the people, the process and the purpose… She shows up. She listens. She celebrates the successes of others. And she works tirelessly to elevate the arts in South Florida.”
Previous winners of this award include longtime critic and former Carbonell Coordinator Mary Damiano (2025); veteran reviewer and founder of FloridaTheaterOnStage.com Bill Hirschman (2023); longtime critic and Carbonell judge Hap Erstein (2022), the Broward Center's Director of Marketing Jennifer Sierra-Grobbelaar (2019); Tony Finstrom, playwright and founder of the Silver Palm Awards, (2018); and longtime arts patron and Carbonell judge Jerome J. (Jerry) Cohen (2017).
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