Oscar G. Brockett Golden Pen Award

Nominations for 2026 are open through June 30, 2025.

Oscar G. Brockett Golden Pen Award, sponsored by USITT and the Oscar G. Brockett Center for Theatre History and Criticism at the University of Texas - Austin, honors an outstanding publication in the field of design and production for the performing arts. The recipient of this award, first given in 1986, is the author of an outstanding, major, recent publication in the field of design and production for the performing arts.

The winning works are significant in the field of performing arts and are outstanding examples of one or more of the following:

  • Scholarly research and critical thinking
  • Presentation of the work and methodology of exceptional practitioners for theatrical arts and/or crafts
  • Description of the methods, skills, and technology involved in creating works of theatre and/or crafts

Detailed eligibility and guidelines can be found here.

Nominations for the Oscar G. Brockett Golden Pen Award may be made year-round. Any nomination received on or after July 1 will be considered for the next year’s award. Nominations are currently being accepted for the 2025 award.

USITT Honors and Awards Policy Golden Pen Nomination Guidelines

 

 

 

Past Winners

2024

Christin Essin

Working Backstage

2022

Joseph Brandesky

Jaroslav Malina in Scenography and Painting

2021

James Glavan & Beverly Gore Norcross

Stage Makeup 11th Edition

2020

Alexandra Bonds

Beijing Opera Costumes: The Visual Communication of Character and Culture

2018

Karen Maness and Richard Isackes

The Art of Hollywood

2017

John E. Bowlt

Russian Avant-Garde Theatre: War, Revolution and Design

2016

Arnold Aronsen

Ming Cho Lee: A Life in Design

2015

Christin Essin

Stage Designers in Early Twentieth-Century America

2014

Peter McKinnon and Eric Fielding

World of Scenography, 1975-1990

2013

Richard Pilbrow

A Theatre Project

2012

John Loring

Joseph Urban