The awards

The William Valk Award for best original script

These are the award categories that the participating groups compete for in the FEATS festival. The names of the trophies have changed over the years. Below, they are given in chronological order. To find out who won what in which year, please consult the FEATS database.

First place

1976The Phillips Cup (donated by Phillips Petroleum); replaced by
2001The Kast Cup for Best Production (donated by Kast Telecom); replaced by
2010The Founders’ Trophy (donated by the AATG); replaced by
2024The John Keary Award for Best Production (donated by the AATG).

Second place

1980The Luxembourg Cup (donated by the New World Theatre Club); replaced by
1990The Mervyn Briscoe Award (in memory of Mervyn Briscoe, Chairman of the Rotterdam One Act Play Festival, May 1976); replaced by
2008The ECC Centennial Cup.

Third place

1983The RAMD Award (RAMD = Rheindahlen Association of Music and Drama; award donated by the Ariel Theatre Guild, RAF Headquarters Germany, Rheindahlen); replaced by
1995The Wedgwood Trophy (presented by Wedgwood, Germany); replaced by
2004The Taché Diamonds Award (presented by Taché Diamonds); replaced by
2012The BATS Trophy

Best actor and best actress

2002Blackie Awards (donated by the English Comedy Club in memory of E.A. Blackwell, founding member of FEATS and Chairman of the ECC in 1976). Prior to 2002 the best actor and best actress awards were donated by the host groups. At varying intervals, best supporting actor and best supporting actress awards were also donated by the host group until the steering committee finally decided that these should no longer be given.

Best stage presentation

1980The Grand Duchy Trophy. Until 1990 this award was for “best set”.

Stage management

1983The Marcel Huhn Memorial Award (Marcel Huhn was a founding member of FEATS, and stage manager for the BATS production in 1976); replaced by
1996The Marcel Huhn/Bruno Boeye Memorial Award (Bruno Boeye was a lighting director from Belgium who was responsible for lighting many of the Antwerp and Brussels winning entries). The stage management trophy is unique in being awarded, not by the adjudicator, but by the FEATS stage manager and crew, on the basis of their assessment of the performing groups’ own stage teams.

Best original script

1984The Verulam Award (donated by Rod West of The Earl of Verulam’s Men of The Hague, an early entrant to FEATS); replaced by
1999The DAW-Verulam Award (supported by DAW, the Drama Association of Wales, which published many of the winning scripts); replaced by
2023The William Valk Award for Best Original Script (donated by Tagora)

Discretionary award

1980The Anthony Cornish Discretionary Award (presented by Anthony Cornish, member of GODA and a frequent adjudicator in the early days of FEATS); replaced by
2008The Don Luscombe Discretionary Award