Effective August 2026
These Policies and Procedures govern the eligibility, submission, judging, nomination, and award processes for the ATAC Globe Awards. These Policies and Procedures are intended to supplement, and not replace or supersede, the ATAC Bylaws.
The Alamo Theater Arts Council (“ATAC”) Globe Awards recognize and celebrate excellence in local theatrical performance, direction, design, production, writing, music, choreography, and related theatrical achievement.
These Policies and Procedures govern the eligibility, submission, judging, nomination, and award processes for the ATAC Globe Awards. These Policies and Procedures are intended to supplement, and not replace or supersede, the ATAC Bylaws.
In the event of a conflict between these Policies and Procedures and the ATAC Bylaws, the Bylaws shall control.
The Board of Directors has final authority over the ATAC Globe Awards, including the adoption, amendment, interpretation, and enforcement of these Policies and Procedures.
The Judging Affairs Committee shall administer the judging process, including judge recruitment, judge training, judge assignment, ballot procedures, tabulation procedures, judge communications, and production eligibility review, subject to oversight and final approval by the Board of Directors.
The Vice President of Judging Affairs shall serve as the primary point of contact for judges, theater liaisons, and producing theater companies regarding judging questions, eligibility questions, ballot issues, and procedural concerns.
The ATAC Globe Awards season shall run annually from September 1 through August 31, unless otherwise approved by the Board of Directors.
A production shall be considered part of the award season in which most of its performances land in. If performances are equally in both seasons, the board will decide which season it falls into.
Productions opening before September 1 shall belong to the prior award season. Productions opening after August 31 shall belong to the following award season.
“ATAC” means the Alamo Theater Arts Council.
“Board” means the ATAC Board of Directors.
“Judging Affairs Committee” means the standing committee responsible for judge recruitment, judge recommendation, judge training, judge assignment, ballot administration, tabulation, and related judging procedures.
A “Producing Theater Company” is the organization, company, collective, institution, or producing entity that is primarily responsible for mounting, financing, administering, presenting, and submitting a theatrical production for ATAC consideration. A rental venue, presenting venue, fiscal sponsor, or host facility shall not be considered the Producing Theater Company unless it also has primary artistic and administrative responsibility for the production.
A “Bexar County-Based Producing Theater Company” is a producing theater company whose principal producing operations are based in Bexar County, Texas.
Factors include:
A mailing address alone shall not be conclusive.
An “Eligible Production” is a qualifying theatrical production publicly performed within Bexar County, Texas, and submitted by a Bexar County-Based Producing Theater Company, unless otherwise provided in these Policies and Procedures for specific categories, student awards, special awards, or Board-approved exceptions.
A “Public Performance” is a performance open to the general public through paid admission, complimentary admission, reservation, invitation available to the public, or other generally accessible means.
Private performances, invited dress rehearsals, previews, school-only performances, adjudication-only performances, donor-only performances, or closed performances shall not count toward the required performance minimum unless expressly approved by the Judging Affairs Committee or Board.
“South and Central Texas” means the geographic region identified by ATAC for artist residency and special eligibility purposes. ATAC may maintain an official map identifying the South and Central Texas region. The map shall be attached to these Policies and Procedures as Appendix A. The written eligibility requirements shall control over the map in the event of ambiguity.
For purposes of artist eligibility, “resident” or “residing” means that the individual maintains a primary or regular residence within the required geographic area at the time of the eligible production. Temporary absence for school, touring work, military service, family care, or comparable circumstances may be reviewed by the Judging Affairs Committee.
A “College or University Student” is a student enrolled in an accredited college, university, community college, conservatory, or comparable post-secondary theater-training program during the relevant award season. Student eligibility may be based on enrollment rather than permanent residence when the award category is a student-specific or college-specific category.
A “Valid Ballot” is a completed ballot submitted by an assigned judge in accordance with ATAC procedures, deadlines, conflict-of-interest rules, and scoring requirements. A ballot marked “Did Not Judge” for a production or category shall not count as a valid scored ballot for that production or category.
“Did Not Judge” means the judge did not evaluate the production, nominee, role, category, design element, or artistic element. “Did Not Judge” is not a score and shall not be included in any average, ranking, threshold, nomination calculation, or award calculation.
A “Revival,” “Remount,” “Restaging,” or “Reprisal” means a subsequent production of a previously produced theatrical work, role, staging, design, direction, choreography, music direction, score, script, or other artistic element that is substantially similar to a prior ATAC-considered or ATAC-awarded production or element.
To be eligible for ATAC Globe Awards consideration, a production must satisfy all of the following requirements:
To qualify for ATAC Globe Awards consideration, a production must run for at least six public performances.
The Judging Affairs Committee may refer unusual scheduling circumstances to the Board for review. Such circumstances may include, but are not limited to, festival productions, repertory schedules, compressed runs, venue emergencies, weather cancellations, public-safety closures, or other “force majeure” circumstances outside the producing theater company’s control.
The following types of productions may be eligible for ATAC consideration if all other eligibility requirements are met:
The following productions are not eligible for general ATAC Globe Awards consideration unless expressly approved for a special category by the Board:
Individual children or teenagers appearing in an otherwise eligible production may be considered for awards if the production itself is eligible.
Actors, directors, designers, choreographers, music directors, fight choreographers, intimacy directors, writers, composers, lyricists, and other credited artists may be eligible for consideration if their work is part of an Eligible Production.
Unless otherwise provided in these Policies and Procedures, individual artists shall reside in South or Central Texas at the time of the production.
The producing theater company is responsible for identifying all eligible participants when submitting the production for consideration.
The Judging Affairs Committee may request clarification or documentation regarding an individual artist’s eligibility and can remove an individual artist if found ineligible by committee vote.
ATAC recognizes that new theatrical work may involve writers, composers, lyricists, book writers, adaptors, or other creators whose residence is outside Bexar County or outside South and Central Texas.
A playwright, book writer, lyricist, composer, adaptor, or creator of original theatrical material is not required to reside in Bexar County to be eligible for consideration in an original work, adapted work, new work, original script, adapted script, original score, or similar writing/composition category, provided that the work is presented as part of an otherwise Eligible Production, and approved by the board or Judging Affairs committee.
For writer and composer eligibility, the qualifying connection to ATAC shall be the eligible Bexar County production of the work, not the writer’s or composer’s place of residence, and be approved by the board or Judging Affairs committee.
This exception applies only to writer, composer, lyricist, adaptor, and original-material categories. It does not make a non-Bexar County production eligible for general ATAC Globe Awards consideration.
ATAC may recognize college and university students through either general production eligibility or student-specific award categories.
A college or university student may be eligible for consideration if the student’s work is part of an otherwise Eligible Production, regardless of whether the student resides or attends school outside Bexar County.
ATAC may establish student-specific or college-specific award categories recognizing work by students enrolled in accredited colleges, universities, community colleges, conservatories, or comparable theater-training programs within South or Central Texas.
Such categories may include productions, performances, designs, direction, choreography, writing, composition, stage management, technical work, or other student theatrical achievement outside Bexar County only if the category is expressly approved by the Board before the start of the award season.
Student-specific or college-specific categories shall be governed by the eligibility requirements adopted for those categories.
Nothing in this section shall make a production eligible for general ATAC Globe Awards consideration unless the production independently satisfies ATAC’s general production eligibility requirements.
ATAC may present competitive awards in categories approved by the Board.
Award categories may include, but are not limited to:
The Board may add, remove, combine, suspend, or rename categories before the start of an award season.
A competitive category should not be added retroactively after the start of a season unless the Board determines that extraordinary circumstances justify the addition and that the addition can be applied fairly to all eligible productions in that season.
Special awards, honorary awards, service awards, memorial awards, or non-competitive recognitions may be created or presented by the Board outside the competitive judging process.
An Original Script is a theatrical script, book, or dramatic text substantially created by the credited writer or writers and presented in an Eligible Production.
The work may be a world premiere, regional premiere, local premiere, or new work, depending on the specific category rules adopted by ATAC.
The submitting producing theater company must identify the work as original at the time of submission and provide supporting documentation if requested.
An Adapted Script is a theatrical script, book, or dramatic text substantially adapted from pre-existing material, including but not limited to a novel, short story, film, poem, public-domain work, historical material, devised source material, prior dramatic text, or other source.
The submitting producing theater company must identify the source material and the credited adaptor or adaptors at the time of submission.
An Original Score is music substantially created for a specific theatrical production and used as part of the production.
Original Score may include songs, underscoring, incidental music, transition music, thematic music, or other composed musical material.
Pre-existing music, stock music, licensed music, public-domain music, or music assembled as sound design shall not qualify as Original Score unless it includes substantial original composition by the credited composer.
Music Direction recognizes the artistic leadership, preparation, interpretation, rehearsal, and execution of the musical elements of a production.
In a musical, Music Direction may include vocal direction, instrumental direction, conducting, ensemble preparation, arrangement oversight, tempo, style, balance, musical interpretation, and coordination between performers and musicians.
In a play, Music Direction may be considered only when the production contains substantial musical performance, vocal performance, instrumental performance, or integrated music requiring artistic direction beyond ordinary sound playback.
Choreography recognizes the creation, staging, and execution of dance or choreographed movement.
In a musical, Choreography may include dance, musical staging, ensemble movement, movement transitions, and choreographed storytelling.
In a play, Choreography may be considered only when the production contains substantial choreographed movement, dance, stylized movement, ritualized movement, or movement-based storytelling beyond ordinary blocking.
Fight Choreography recognizes the creation and staging of theatrical violence, combat, or physical conflict in a manner that supports the production’s storytelling, style, safety, and performance execution.
Fight Choreography may include hand-to-hand combat, weapon combat, falls, slaps, shoves, grappling, stylized violence, or other staged physical conflict.
Special Achievement may recognize theatrical work that does not fit clearly within an existing competitive category or that represents an exceptional contribution to a production, season, organization, or the local theater community.
Special Achievement may be competitive or non-competitive as determined by the Board.
A producing theater company seeking ATAC consideration must submit the required production information by the deadline established by the Judging Affairs Committee.
Required information may include:
The producing theater company is responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the submission.
Failure to disclose relevant eligibility information may result in disqualification of the production, category, nominee, or artistic element.
Each producing theater company should designate a theater liaison for ATAC communication.
The theater liaison is responsible for:
ATAC recognizes that theaters may revive, remount, transfer, restage, or revisit prior productions. Such productions may remain eligible for consideration; however, previously awarded work shall not receive duplicate competitive recognition for substantially the same artistic contribution.
If a production element previously received an ATAC Globe Award, that substantially same element shall not be eligible to win again in a subsequent revival, remount, restaging, transfer, or continuation.
This may include, but is not limited to:
A performer who previously received an ATAC Globe Award for a specific role shall not be eligible to win again for substantially the same role in a revival, remount, restaging, transfer, or subsequent production of the same work.
This rule applies whether the role is reprised at the same theater or at a different Bexar County theater.
A previously produced work, role, design, direction, choreography, score, script, or other artistic element may be considered newly eligible if the Judging Affairs Committee determines that the submitted work is materially different from the prior ATAC-awarded work.
Factors may include:
The producing theater company must disclose known prior ATAC recognition involving the same production, role, design, direction, choreography, music direction, score, script, or other artistic element at the time of submission.
Failure to disclose prior recognition may result in disqualification.
The Judging Affairs Committee shall review revival, remount, restaging, and reprisal questions and may make a recommendation to the Board.
The Board has final authority to determine eligibility.
Judges shall be recruited and reviewed annually.
The Judging Affairs Committee shall annually recruit, review, and recommend a slate of judge candidates to the Board of Directors.
The final judge roster shall be approved by vote of the Board of Directors once a year.
Judges may include theater practitioners, educators, critics, artists, designers, directors, performers, administrators, patrons, and other qualified individuals with appropriate knowledge, experience, training, or commitment to theatrical evaluation.
ATAC may require judges to complete training before receiving assignments.
Judges are expected to:
A judge must complete at least ten valid production ballots during each award season to remain eligible for consideration as a judge in future seasons, unless excused by the Judging Affairs Committee for good cause.
A judge shall not evaluate a production, category, nominee, or artistic element if the judge has a conflict of interest that could reasonably affect impartiality.
Conflicts may include, but are not limited to:
A judge must disclose potential conflicts as soon as possible.
The Judging Affairs Committee shall determine whether the judge may evaluate the production, must mark “Did Not Judge” for certain categories, or must be removed from the assignment.
The Judging Affairs Committee shall assign judges to eligible productions according to procedures approved by ATAC.
ATAC will encourage judges to attend every eligible production to satisfy the minimum valid ballot requirement.
Producing theater companies shall make reasonable arrangements for assigned judges to attend the production.
A production must receive at least eight valid scored ballots to qualify for nomination and award consideration.
If fewer than eight valid scored ballots are received due to circumstances outside the producing theater company’s control, the Judging Affairs Committee may refer the matter to the Board for review.
The Board may determine whether the production or any element of a production remains eligible, whether additional judging is possible, whether the production should be excluded, or whether another equitable remedy is appropriate.
A production shall not be penalized solely because of ATAC administrative failure, judge nonattendance, or other circumstances beyond the producing theater company’s control, provided the producing theater company complied with all submission and access requirements.
ATAC may use an online ballot system or other Board-approved ballot process.
Ballots shall be submitted according to the deadlines and procedures established by the Judging Affairs Committee.
A ballot may include scoring fields, category-specific evaluations, comments, eligibility confirmations, “Did Not Judge” selections, or other information required by ATAC.
A judge may mark “Did Not Judge” for a category, role, nominee, design element, or production element the judge did not observe, could not fairly evaluate, or is conflicted from evaluating.
“Did Not Judge” shall not be counted as a score.
Incomplete, late, conflicted, duplicate, or procedurally defective ballots may be excluded by the Judging Affairs Committee.
Nominations shall be determined through the ballot tabulation process approved by the Board.
The Judging Affairs Committee shall receive, process, and maintain secure custody of ballots and resulting tabulation data.
The number of nominees per category may be determined by Board policy, category size, scoring results, ties, minimum score thresholds, or other approved tabulation rules.
ATAC may choose not to announce nominees in a category if the category does not have sufficient eligible entries, valid ballots, or qualifying scores.
The Board may combine, suspend, or withhold a category if necessary to preserve fairness or award integrity.
Award recipients shall be determined through the approved tabulation process.
Ballots, scores, rankings, judge comments, and tabulation data shall remain confidential unless the Board authorizes release.
The Board may review unusual results, eligibility concerns, conflicts of interest, tabulation irregularities, or procedural issues before finalizing nominees or recipients.
The Board has final authority to certify award nominees and recipients.
The Board may approve new categories, including but not limited to Fight Choreography, Projection/Media Design, College Student Awards, Student Achievement Awards, or Special Achievement Awards.
Competitive categories should be approved before the start of the award season.
If ATAC wishes to recognize work that falls outside an existing category, the Board may create a non-competitive special award, honorary award, or special recognition.
Student, college, special, or pilot categories may have eligibility requirements different from general Globe Awards eligibility, provided those requirements are adopted by the Board and communicated before implementation.
A producing theater company, artist, judge, or ATAC committee may request review of an eligibility or procedural issue.
Requests for review must be submitted in writing to the Vice President of Judging Affairs or designated ATAC contact.
The Judging Affairs Committee may review the issue and make a recommendation to the Board.
The Board has final authority to grant exceptions, deny exceptions, resolve appeals, interpret these Policies and Procedures, and determine final eligibility.
Exceptions should be granted only when necessary to preserve fairness, address unusual circumstances, or further ATAC’s mission without undermining the integrity of the awards process.
Judges, committee members, Board members, tabulators, and any other persons with access to ballots, scores, comments, deliberations, or confidential eligibility information shall maintain confidentiality.
Judge identities, assignments, ballots, comments, scores, rankings, and tabulation data shall not be disclosed except as authorized by the Board.
The Judging Affairs Committee shall maintain records of production submissions, judge assignments, ballot submissions, eligibility determinations, nomination results, award results, and related procedural records according to ATAC’s recordkeeping practices.
Confidential judging materials shall be secured and accessed only by authorized persons.
These Policies and Procedures supersede all prior ATAC policies, procedures, guidelines, customs, informal practices, committee interpretations, and individual Board actions concerning Globe Awards eligibility, judging, nominations, award categories, tabulation, or award administration, except where expressly preserved by the Board of Directors.
Prior awards, nominations, recognitions, eligibility determinations, exceptions, waivers, or Board actions shall remain part of ATAC’s historical record and shall not be invalidated solely by the adoption of these Policies and Procedures.
However, prior awards, nominations, eligibility decisions, exceptions, waivers, practices, or Board actions shall not create binding precedent for future award seasons unless expressly adopted into these Policies and Procedures or separately approved by the Board of Directors.
Beginning with the effective date of these Policies and Procedures, all Globe Awards eligibility, judging, nomination, and award determinations shall be governed by this document, as amended from time to time by the Board of Directors.
Nothing in this section shall limit the Board of Directors’ authority to correct clerical errors, address fraud or material misrepresentation, resolve recordkeeping issues, or take other action necessary to protect the integrity of ATAC’s awards and historical records.
These Policies and Procedures may be amended by the Board of Directors.
Amendments affecting production eligibility, category eligibility, judging procedures, nomination procedures, or award procedures should be adopted before the beginning of an award season whenever practicable.
The Board may adopt mid-season amendments only when necessary to address an unforeseen issue, correct ambiguity, maintain fairness, or protect the integrity of the awards process.
Unless otherwise stated by the Board, amendments shall apply prospectively from the date of adoption and shall not reopen, revoke, or alter prior awards, nominations, or eligibility determinations.
The following appendices may be attached to and incorporated into these Policies and Procedures:
| Appendix | Title |
|---|---|
| Appendix A | South and Central Texas Eligibility Map |
| Appendix B | Approved Award Categories |
| Appendix C | Judge Conflict-of-Interest Form |
| Appendix D | Production Submission Form |
| Appendix E | Theater Liaison Checklist |
| Appendix F | Student and College Award Eligibility Rules |
| Appendix G | Revival, Remount, Restaging, and Reprisal Disclosure Form |
| Appendix H | Ballot and Scoring Guidelines |
| Appendix I | Category Definitions and Examples |
| Appendix J | Board-Approved Exceptions for the Current Season |
The following appendix placeholders are included for Board completion and attachment. They may be replaced with final approved forms, maps, category lists, and scoring guidelines.
[To be completed, attached, or approved by the Board of Directors.]
[To be completed, attached, or approved by the Board of Directors.]