The Stage Debut Awards 2026: Full list of winners as Sadie Sink and Ava Pickett win big at ninth awards ceremony

The winners of the ninth The Stage Debut Awards have been revealed, with fresh faces and firm favourites taking home top prize.

Sadie Sink snagged the coveted Best West End Debut Performer prize for her starring role in Robert Icke's Romeo and Juliet, while British theatre darling Ava Pickett, writer of 1536 and Bloodsport: after Helen of Troy was awarded Best Creative West End Debut.

The judges also recognised stand-out performances such as Robert Aramayo in Guess How Much I Love You and Julianne Pundan for Miss Saigon. The National Theatre production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses was also recognised, with costume designer Natalie Roar awarded Best Designer.

Read below for the full list of nominees and winners.

Check out our latest London theatre reviews, including Kimberly Akimbo and Electra/Persona.

Best Performer in a Play

• Robert Aramayo – Guess How Much I Love You? (Royal Court Theatre, London) - WINNER
• Zoë Armer – The Virgins (Soho Theatre, London) - WINNER
• Noah Jupe – Romeo and Juliet (Harold Pinter Theatre, London)
• Assa Kanouté – Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, London)
• Erin Kellyman – Evening All Afternoon (Donmar Warehouse, London)
• Dylan Malyn – To Kill a Mockingbird (Leeds Playhouse and touring)
• Ruaridh Mollica – Clarkston (Trafalgar Theatre, London)
• Amber van der Brugge – Vincent in Brixton (Orange Tree Theatre, London)

Best Performer in a Musical

• Jess Douglas-Welsh – Redcliffe (Southwark Playhouse Borough, London)
• Jess Folley – Burlesque (Savoy Theatre, London)
• Lydia Louise – Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Watermill Theatre, Newbury)
• Julianne Pundan – Miss Saigon (Palace Theatre, Manchester, and touring) WINNER
• James Spence – Thespians (Mercury Theatre, Colchester, and touring) - WINNER
• Sheridan Townsley – Sing Street (Lyric Hammersmith, London)

Best Writer

• Chris Ashworth-Bennion – The Red Rogue of Bala (Theatr Clwyd, Mold)
• Georgie Dettmer – Are You Watching? (Royal Court Theatre, London) - WINNER
• Hannah Doran – The Meat Kings! (Inc.) of Brooklyn Heights (Park Theatre, London)
• Leo Drayton – Dynolwaith (Sherman Theatre, Cardiff)
• Fran Kranz – Mass (Donmar Warehouse, London)
• John Morton – Eclipse (Chichester Festival Theatre)
• Jack Nicholls – The Shitheads (Royal Court Theatre, London)
• Danielle Phillips – Children of the Night (Cast, Doncaster)

Best Director

• Douglas Clarke-Wood – THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME. (Summerhall, Edinburgh)
• Ralph Fiennes – As You Like It (Bath Theatre Royal)
• Tommaso Giacomin – The Uncontainable Nausea of Alec Baldwin (New Diorama Theatre, London) - WINNER
• Michelle McTernan – HOP – The Hopeful Hare (Swansea Grand Theatre)

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Best Designer

• Lev Govorovski and Ted Walliker (set and lighting design) – RON (Riverside Studios, London)
• Alex Mullins (costume design) – Teeth ‘n’ Smiles (Duke of York’s Theatre, London)
• Natalie Roar (costume design) – Les Liaisons Dangereuses (National Theatre, London) - WINNER

Best Composer, Lyricist or Book Writer

• John Carney and Gary Clark (music, lyrics) – Sing Street (Lyric Hammersmith, London)
• Jordan Luke Gage (book, music, lyrics) – Redcliffe (Southwark Playhouse Borough, London) - WINNER
• Guido García Lueches and Sergio Antonio Maggiolo (book, music, lyrics) – Jeezus! (Underbelly Cowgate, Edinburgh, and New Diorama Theatre, London)
• Ed Zanders (music, lyrics) – Thespians (Mercury Theatre, Colchester, and touring)

Best Creative West End Debut

• Finn den Hertog (director) – The Fifth Step (@sohoplace)
• Tom Fletcher (composer/lyricist) – Paddington the Musical (Savoy Theatre)
• Rachel Joyce (book) and Passenger (composer/lyricist) – The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Theatre Royal Haymarket)
• Ava Pickett (writer) – 1536 (Ambassadors Theatre) - WINNER

Best West End debut performer

• Levi Brown – Cyrano de Bergerac (Noël Coward Theatre)
• Brendan Gleeson – The Weir (Harold Pinter Theatre)
• Liv Hill – 1536 (Ambassadors Theatre)
• Noah Jupe – Romeo and Juliet (Harold Pinter Theatre)
• Cormac McAlinden – Inter Alia (Wyndham’s Theatre)
• Ntombizodwa Ndlovu – Marie and Rosetta (@sohoplace)
• Alistair Nwachukwu – The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (@sohoplace)
• Kate Phillips – The Weir (Harold Pinter Theatre)
• Arti Shah – Paddington the Musical (Savoy Theatre)
• Sadie Sink – Romeo and Juliet (Harold Pinter Theatre) - WINNER

For more theatre content check out our Going Out section with the best West End shows.