Stephanie Williams is the winner of the 2009 Telstra Ballet Dancer Award. She also took out the coveted People’s Choice prize making a clean sweep of this year’s awards, which were announced in Sydney on Friday 4 December.
Williams, a Coryphée with The Australian Ballet, was one of six nominees vying for the prestigious title.
The announcement was made by Telstra’s Group Managing Director, Telstra Business, Deena Shiff, in front of a capacity crowd at the Sydney Opera House, following the company’s opening night performance of The Sleeping Beauty.
The Telstra Ballet Dancer Award is the highest accolade of its kind available to an Australian dancer. Stephanie won the $20,000 cash prize after being judged as outstanding on numerous criteria over the course of the year. This included the artistic quality of her work, the strength of a written submission, her personal development and future potential.
She also collected an additional $5,000 cash as the Telstra People’s Choice winner, as voted by the general public who registered votes online and by SMS, and was presented with spectacular statuettes created by Dinosaur Designs exclusively for the Telstra Ballet Dancer Award.
The other nominees were Juliet Burnett, Robyn Hendricks, Andrew Killian, Leanne Stojmenov and Laura Tong. These six exceptionally talented dancers were nominated by The Australian Ballet’s artistic staff and Principal Artists.
This year’s judging panel was comprised of David McAllister (Artistic Director, The Australian Ballet), Valerie Wilder (Executive Director, The Australian Ballet), Danilo Radojevic (Associate Artistic Director, The Australian Ballet), Richard Howarth (Telstra, General Manager Sponsorships & Reputation), Chris Boyd (Dance Critic, The Herald Sun) and Chris Bath (News Presenter, Channel 7).
Amber Scott, currently a Senior Artist with The Australian Ballet, is the only other person to win both Awards, doing so in 2004.
Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet David McAllister said: “Now Stephanie Williams and Amber Scott have more in common than their beautiful dancing! Winning both components in this year’s Telstra Ballet Dancer Award is a huge endorsement from both the company and our audience. Stephanie is a dancer who is having a great career that I am sure will continue on the rapid rise she has enjoyed since joining the company in 2007.”
