ATCA’s fourth annual Edward Medina Prize applications open through August 15, 2025
New York — The American Theatre Critics/Journalists Association (ATCA) announces applications open July 1 for the fourth annual Edward Medina Prize for Excellence in Cultural Criticism.
The application deadline is Friday, August 15 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.
The Edward Medina Prize for Excellence in Cultural Criticism awards theater critics and journalists in the United States from under-represented groups who write about the arts and its role in highlighting people from various cultures, backgrounds and experiences.
ATCA notifies all applicants of their status by October and presents the Medina Prize in November.
The purposes of the prize are to (1) cultivate relationships between ATCA and diverse critics, (2) encourage increased readership of cultural criticism composed by diverse writers, and (3) offer monetary support for critics from under-represented groups.
The honor includes a $1,000 cash prize, one free year of membership to ATCA, and financing to subsidize travel costs to ATCA’s annual November convening in New York City.
The Edward Medina Prize is sponsored in part by Foundation ATCA, a charitable foundation founded in 1991 that provides educational and other support to theater critics, and by Critical Minded, an initiative that invests in cultural critics of color cofounded in 2017 by The Nathan Cummings Foundation and The Ford Foundation.
The short application asks for a brief bio, a personal statement and up to three writing samples, which can be op-eds, long-form reviews, essays, or feature articles. A link to that application is available on ATCA’s website.
The judges for the 2025 prize represent theater, journalism, and communications professionals, including Daniela Cintron (she/her), journalist, editor and producer; Andrea Henderson (she/her), journalist at St. Louis Public Radio; Jade Lambert-Smith (she/her), director-dramaturg and executive producer at Lambert Smith Media; Sharon Mizota (she/her), art critic and archivist; and Blake Zidell (he/him), president of Blake Zidell & Associates.
ATCA awarded three Edward Medina Prizes for Excellence in Cultural Criticism. The 2022 award went to Brittani Samuel (she/her), a Caribbean-American arts journalist, theater critic, and co-editor of 3Views on Theater. The 2023 award went to Gloria Oladipo (she/her), a New York-based journalist and playwright who hails from Chicago and whose work appears regularly in the Guardian and other publications. New York-based critic and journalist Christian Lewis (they/them) received the award in 2024. This trans nonbinary, queer and disabled freelance writer with bylines in Variety, American Theatre, Out, Playbill and other publications has co-hosted podcasts and spoken on panels.
Medina (he/him) emphasized the need for increasing diversity within theatrical production and criticism and sought to provide fresh opportunities and support for new critics finding their calling to this vital field. To learn more about Edward Medina, please visit his website.
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