The mission of the Isaac Awards is to encourage and support excellence in high school musical theatre in our region through an annual awards event that recognizes student achievement.

Due to the number of high schools that wanted to participate in the Isaac Awards, we expanded to two nights in 2017.  Each night has their own set of judges and their own set of awards.

2025 Isaac Awards

The 20th Annual Isaac Awards for High School Musicals will be held May 24 and 25, 2025 at Altoona’s historic Mishler Theatre.

We send judges to attend each of the participating schools performances beginning in November and ending April 30.  Then they confer and select nominations for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Production, and more.  Those nominations are released in early May.

The winners will be announced at the awards show on May 24 and 25 when the Mishler Theatre is filled to the rafters with students, parents, and teachers.

2024 Isaac Awards

The 19th Annual Isaac Awards were held May 25 and 26 at Altoona’s historic Mishler Theatre with 20 area high schools from 6 counties participating.

We are pleased and proud to announce that, with the support of our generous sponsors and three local colleges, students participating in the 2024 Isaac Awards received $67,000 in college scholarships plus $14,000 donated to participating high schools for their musical theatre programs.

In addition to $12,000 in scholarships sponsored by ACT that are awarded to individual Isaac Award winners, three local colleges awarded eighteen additional scholarships to Isaac students for a grand total of $67,000.  (The colleges are Penn State Altoona, Mount Aloysius College, and Juniata College.)

Ann & Bill Benzel donated $14,000 to the participating schools for their next year’s musical budget –  $500 to 16 of the schools.  Then four lucky schools were randomly selected to receive $1,500 (Benzel BONUS Bucks)!  Those schools were Bellefonte Area, Glendale, Huntingdon Area, and Northern Cambria.

Click on this Isaacs Archive button to see participating schools, nominations, award winners, and scholarship recipients from previous years.

Many thanks to our long-time Title Sponsor, Reliance Bank, along with our other corporate sponsors: Altoona Blair County Development Corporation, Michelle Barnes Optometry, The EADS Group, and The Blair Companies.