The Tony awards are the most precious award in the world of theatre. The Tony Awards also known as The Antoinette Perry Awards given for Excellence in Theatre. It is recognize achievement in live American theatre and is presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre. A discretionary non-competitive Special Tony Award and the Tony Honours for Excellence in Theatre are also given. The awards are named after Antoinette Perry, co-founder of the American Theatre Wing.
Awarded by a panel of approximately 700 judges from various areas of the entertainment industry and press, the Tony Award is generally regarded as the theatre's equivalent to the Oscars, for excellence in film; the Grammys for the music industry, and the Emmys for excellence in television.
The rules for the Tony Awards are set forth in the official document "Rules and Regulations of The American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards", which applies for each season only. The Tony Awards are considered the highest U.S. theatre honour, the U.S. theatre industry's equivalent to the Academy Awards (Oscars) for motion pictures. In British theatre, the equivalent of the Tony Award is the Laurence Olivier Award.
Since 1997, the Tony Awards ceremony has generally been held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City in June and broadcast live on CBS television. The 63rd Tony Awards ceremony was held on June 7, 2009, at Radio City Music Hall, with a three-hour broadcast on CBS.
History of Tony Awards The award was founded by the American Theatre Wing in 1947. The award is named for Antoinette Perry, an actress, director, producer and co-founder of the American Theatre Wing. The first awards ceremony was held on April 6, 1947, at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City.
Tony Award categories There are presently 26 categories of awards, plus several special awards. Starting with 11 awards in 1947, the names and number of categories have changed over the years; a complete history of each award category was published in 2005.
