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Through the Isaacs, ACT has awarded more than half a million dollars in college scholarships to local students and more than $110,000 to area high school musical theatre programs.
In May 2006, the Isaac Awards for High School Musicals started with 10 schools. By its 20th anniversary, the Isaacs had expanded to two nights with 18 high schools participating from six counties.
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.
2027 Isaac Awards
The 22nd Annual Isaac Awards for High School Musicals will be held May 29 and 30, 2027 at Altoona’s historic Mishler Theatre.
We send judges to attend each of the participating schools’ performances beginning in November and ending April 30. 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. In early May, the judges 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 29 and 30 when the Mishler Theatre is filled to the rafters with students, parents, and teachers.
2026 Isaac Awards
The 21st Anniversary Isaac Awards were held May 23 and 24, 2026 at Altoona’s historic Mishler Theatre with 18 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 this year’s Isaac Awards received $45,500 in college scholarships plus $11,000 donated to participating high schools for their musical theatre programs.
Ann & Bill Benzel donated $11,000 to the participating schools for their next year’s musical budget – $500 each to 18 of the schools. Then two lucky schools were randomly selected to each receive an additional $1,000 (Benzel BONUS Bucks)! Those schools were Huntingdon Area High School and State College Area High School.
In addition to $12,000 in scholarships sponsored by ACT that are awarded to individual Isaac Award winners, an additional $3,000 was awarded through the Steven C. Helsel Legacy Scholarship, the Kate & Eric Wolf Legacy Scholarship, and the Zach Hinish Foundation “Inclusion in Theatre” Award.
On top of that, three local colleges awarded more than $30,000 in additional scholarships to Isaac students. The colleges are Penn State Altoona, Mount Aloysius College, and Juniata College.
Click on this Isaacs Archive button to see participating schools, nominations, award winners, and scholarship recipients from previous years.
Our Generous Supporters
Many thanks to our long-time Title Sponsor, Reliance Bank, along with our other major sponsors: Bill and Ann Benzel, UPMC Altoona, Blair County Alliance for Business and Economic Growth, Kate & Eric Wolf, The EADS Group, and Blair Image Elements along with our Isaac Angels.