LITTLE MISS PERFECT Creator Joriah Kwamé to Receive 2026 Stephen Schwartz Award

Dramatists Guild Foundation has named composer, lyricist, playwright, and former DGF Fellow Joriah Kwamé is the 2026 recipient of the Stephen Schwartz Award.

Created by producers Marc Platt, Nancy Rose, David Stone, and the Board of DGF in honor of the Wicked and Pippin composer-lyricist, the Stephen Schwartz Award is a pledge to the future of musical theater. Selected by a private committee of composers and industry leaders, the recipient receives $10,000 in unconditional support of their work. The award recognizes a musical theater writer whose voice is seen as critical to the continued success of the craft. “The life of an artist is full of peaks and valleys, and both inevitably find their way into the work. Support like this makes it possible to keep creating through all of them,” said Kwamé. “DGF's belief in me means the world, and I'm deeply honored to be recognized in this way.”

About Joriah Kwamé

Kwamé is a New York City–based writer and the creator of Little Miss Perfect, which began as his viral song of the same name and received its world premiere at Olney Theatre Center in 2026. Alongside Pasek and Paul, he co-wrote “Top of the World” for the Sony Pictures film Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, performed by Shawn Mendes. He is currently writing music and lyrics with Siedah Garrett for the Broadway-bound Polly: The Musical, directed and choreographed by Debbie Allen, with a book by Lena Waithe and Michael Benjamin Washington. His credits also include music and lyrics for DreamWorks' Trolls JR., now licensed through Music Theatre International. A 2022–23 DGF Fellow for Musical Theatre, Kwamé received a 2024 Jonathan Larson Grant and has had work commissioned and developed by Goodspeed Musicals and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. For more information, visit joriahkwame.com.

The Stephen Schwartz Award debuted in 2019. Past recipients are Madeline Myers (2025), Daniel Lazour (2024), Benjamin Velez (2023), Heather Christian (2022), Emily Gardner Xu Hall (2021), Khiyon Hursey (2020), and Oliver Houser (2019). Kwamé's work will be spotlighted at DGF's annual Gala on October 19, 2026, at Ziegfeld Ballroom (141 W. 54th St.), with a performance of “Leave the Rest to Me” from Sinister, featuring music and lyrics by Kwamé and a book by Lauren Gunderson. This year's Gala will honor Sue Frost, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, and R. Patrick Morrow. For tickets and tables visit DGFGala.com. For more information on DGF's awards for writers or how to support theater writers, visit DGF.org.