The 2026 Stage Debut Awards Announces Winners

Winners of The Stage Debut Awards 2026, in association with Netflix, were revealed tonight at a ceremony at 8 Northumberland Avenue, London, celebrating the performers and creatives making standout professional and West End debuts across UK theatre.

Sadie Sink won for Best West End Debut Performer, one of the evening's most coveted awards, for her performance in Romeo and Juliet at the Harold Pinter Theatre. Sink follows in the footsteps of previous winners including Rachel Zegler, Jodie Comer, Rose Ayling-Ellis and Jack Wolfe.

At the ceremony hosted by actor and comedian Hammed Animashaun attended by some of UK theatre's most influential figures, Sink's win was the only award category where the winner was decided by public vote.

This year's nominations across eight categories celebrated performers, composers, designers, writers, lyricists and directors whose breakthrough work premiered on stages across the UK.

There were two joint wins among this year's performance categories. Julianne Pundan and James Spence shared the award for Best Performer in a Musical sponsored by Michael Harrison Entertainment. Pundan was recognised for her performance in Miss Saigon at Manchester's Palace Theatre and on tour, while Spence won for his performance in Thespians at the Mercury Theatre Colchester and on tour.

The Best Performer in a Play prize sponsored by Encore was also shared, with Robert Aramayo and Zoë Armerboth taking home the award. Aramayo was recognised for his performance in Guess How Much I Love You? at London's Royal Court, while Armer won for her performance as Anya in The Virgins at Soho Theatre.

In the off-stage categories, Tommaso Giacomin was named Best Director, while Georgie Dettmer took home the prize for Best Writer sponsored by Sonia Friedman Productions.

Actor and writer Jordan Luke Gage won Best Composer, Lyricist or Book Writer sponsored by Theatrical Rights Worldwide, for Redcliffe at Southwark Playhouse Borough. Making his debut as a book writer, lyricist and composer, Gage created an unabashedly sweeping and emotionally wrenching romance through the new musical.

Natalie Roar was named Best Designer sponsored by Preevue for her costume design on Les Liaisons Dangereusesat The National Theatre, while Ava Pickett took home the award for Best Creative West End Debut sponsored by Jamie Wilson Productions. Pickett's win came just one year after she took home the Best Writer award at last year's ceremony.

The awards were presented by a host of celebrated names from across the theatre industry including Sting, Indhu Rubasingham, Matthew Xia,Tyrone Huntley, Marisha Wallace and Michael Rishawn.

The awards, uniquely dedicated to shining a light on breakthrough theatre talent, also featured a packed programme. Attendees were treated to performances from Tyrone Huntley and Avenue Q, as well as a medley from the West End Theatre Choir and a surprise performance from Sting alongside The Last Ship co-star Frances McNamee.

Sam Marlowe, The Stage's reviews editor and co-chair of the judging panel, said: “This year's winners represent a truly exciting range of fresh talent – artists making their mark, bringing us work that speaks to our present moment and enriches and advances theatre as an art form. Their energy and vision are bound to ensure that the stage remains a vibrant, socially and culturally significant creative space.”

The 2026 ceremony marked the ninth edition of The Stage Debut Awards since their inception in 2017, ahead of the awards' 10th anniversary in 2027.

THE WINNERS IN FULL

Best Performer in a Play (sponsored by Encore)

Robert Aramayo for Guess How Much I Love You? at The Royal Court Theatre, London
Zoë Armer for The Virgins at Soho Theatre, London

 

Best Performer in a Musical (sponsored by Michael Harrison Entertainment)

Julianne Pundan for Miss Saigon at the Palace Theatre, Manchester, and touring
James Spence for Thespians at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester, and touring

 

Best Writer (sponsored by Sonia Friedman Productions)

Georgie Dettmer for Are You Watching? at The Royal Court Theatre, London

 

Best Director

Tommaso Giacomin for The Uncontainable Nausea of Alec Baldwin at the New Diorama Theatre, London

 

Best Designer (sponsored by Preevue)

Natalie Roar (costume design) for Les Liaisons Dangereuses at The National Theatre, London

 

Best Composer, Lyricist or Book Writer (sponsored by Theatrical Rights Worldwide)

Jordan Luke Gage (book, music, lyrics) for Redcliffe at Southwark Playhouse Borough, London

 

Best Creative West End Debut (sponsored by Jamie Wilson Productions)

Ava Pickett (writer) for 1536 at the Ambassadors Theatre

 

Best West End Debut Performer

Sadie Sink for Romeo and Juliet at the Harold Pinter Theatre

 

The inaugural The Stage Debut Awards took place in 2017, and since then its winners have gone on to star in major West End productions, television series and films, with alumni earning Olivier and Tony Awards along the way.

Recent winners include Rachel Zegler, who won Best West End Debut Performer in 2025 for her performance as Eva Perón in Evita, following previous recipients Jack Wolfe (Next to Normal), Rose Ayling-Ellis (2023) and Jodie Comer (2022). The 2025 winners also included Lucy Karczewski, Leesa Tulley, Richard Mylan, Yve Blake andMark Rosenblatt, adding to an alumni that spans performers, writers, directors, composers and designers.

Other notable winners include Jeevan Braich for Starlight Express, Rob Madge for My Son's a Queer, (But What Can You Do?) and Michael R Jackson for composing A Strange Loop at the Barbican Theatre and Tingying Dong for her sound design on The Crucible at The National Theatre and in the West End.

The awards' hall of fame also includes Shan Ako (Les Misérables), Sam Tutty (Dear Evan Hansen), Miriam-Teak Lee(On the Town), Bush Theatre artistic director Lynette Linton (Sweat) and composers Femi Temowo (Death of a Salesman) and Dan Gillespie Sells (Everybody's Talking About Jamie).

Former winners have gone on to receive and be nominated for Olivier and Tony Awards. Recent successes have included SptiLip's Operation Mincemeat, which was first celebrated at the Debuts in 2019, and Jim Barne and Kit Buchan's Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) which won in 2020 when it was originally called The Season.