The KPA Bradley Awards have quickly become one of the most vibrant celebrations of high school musical theater in Kentucky and Southern Indiana. Now in its second year as an official regional affiliate of the National High School Musical Theatre Awards — widely known as the Jimmy Awards — the program honors young performers, technicians, and educators across every facet of the art form. From powerful lead performances and dynamic ensemble work to innovative lighting, sound, costumes, and community outreach, the awards recognize the full spectrum of talent that brings high school musicals to life.
With 35 participating schools and more than 1,000 students involved in casts and crews this season, the program spans an impressively wide geographic area — one of the largest among all Jimmy Awards regional affiliates. The excitement builds toward the 2026 ceremony on Sunday, May 31, at the historic Brown Theatre in Louisville, promising red-carpet energy, live performances, awards presentations, and a night to remember.
Honoring Bradley Broecker’s Legacy
The awards are named for Bradley Broecker, a visionary who played a pivotal role in bringing touring Broadway productions to the Kentuckiana region and helped create a more stable national touring model that strengthened shows in cities including Louisville, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis.
His daughter, Leslie Broecker, President of Midwest for Broadway Across America Louisville Theatrical Association, shares what drove her father’s lifelong commitment to the arts. “He followed his passion,” she said. “He loved musicals and performed in them when he was in high school and he was a magician as a young man, and his love of making sure everyone has access to the arts is what came through.”
When Kentucky Performing Arts (KPA) proposed naming the new program in his honor, Bradley was characteristically humble and initially declined. Only after persistent encouragement did he agree, allowing his legacy to inspire a new generation of theatre artists.
Filling a Longstanding Regional Gap
The idea for a regional high school musical recognition program had been discussed for years, well before the pandemic. Nick Covault, KPA’s Vice President of Education and Community, describes the motivation behind bringing it to life.
“There’s really been a geographic service desert in our area and there’s no program here that’s providing young people from our region a chance to connect with that fantastic renowned program on the national level,” Covault said. “So we started that conversation. Then we had to put it on pause for the pandemic, and we are so thrilled to have brought it back into motion and had the inaugural event last year.”
Partnering with the Louisville Theatrical Association, KPA launched the first ceremony on June 1, 2025, at The Kentucky Center in Louisville. Drawing inspiration from the Tony Awards and fully integrated with the Jimmy Awards framework — named for Jimmy Nederlander’s dedication to nurturing both audiences and performers — the Bradley Awards provided the structured platform the region had long needed.
How the Program Works
Participation begins when schools apply in late summer. The inaugural 2025 season included 16 schools; this year the number more than doubled to 35, reaching from Paducah in Western Kentucky to Rowan County in the east, Warren County in the south, and communities across Northern Kentucky and Southern Indiana — including Clark, Floyd, Harrison, Scott, and Washington counties.
Professional adjudicators, including university professors, casting directors, and seasoned theater practitioners, visit each production between late October 2025 and April 26, 2026. Three adjudicators attend every show, scoring across categories such as Best Actor and Best Actress in Leading Roles, Outstanding Ensemble Performance, Technical Execution, and Behind the Scenes Excellence.
The top five scores in each category become nominees, and winners are selected from those finalists (with leading-role winners participating in an additional in-person audition in Louisville). Application-based categories — including Outstanding Community Engagement, Outstanding Arts Mentor, Outstanding Student Designer, and additional Behind the Scenes honors — are reviewed separately by panels.
A key strength of the program is the detailed, constructive feedback provided to every participating school. Adjudicators deliver written notes offering professional perspective. Covault noted that the response from educators and students has been overwhelmingly positive.
“We heard from a lot of our schools that the feedback from an outside voice was really impactful and helpful to their students and their learning community to help them take ownership of what they’re doing, and celebrate that,” he said.
Schools choose whether to alert students when adjudicators will be present. Some prefer the heads up, while others value the authentic energy that comes from treating every performance equally.
An Electric Inaugural Ceremony
The 2025 ceremony left a lasting impression. Leslie Broecker recalls the atmosphere with enthusiasm.
“The production of the award show at The Kentucky Center was brilliantly produced and was probably in my nearly 40 years working there one of the most electric evenings because of the passion on stage and the support the kids got from everyone that was in the house like their family and friends,” she said. “It was an amazing evening.”
Winners Carson Chesnut (Will Bloom in Big Fish, McCracken County High School) and Kennedy Shae Julian (Sally Brown in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Youth Performing Arts School) advanced to the Jimmy Awards in New York. There, participants receive an all-expenses-paid, 10-day immersion that includes private coaching, master classes, industry panels, and a showcase performance on a Broadway stage in front of producers.
“The exposure doesn’t get any better. That’s for sure,” Broecker said. “The winner of this past season is now the lead in & Juliet on the road. I mean you go from a senior in high school to leading a Broadway tour, so it’s the real deal.”
Celebrating Students, Educators, and Community
At its heart, the Bradley Awards are about more than individual recognition. They strengthen regional ties and affirm the importance of theater education.
Covault sums up the mission: “At its core this is really a program to celebrate and lift up the young theater artists of our region and their educators. This program is about recognizing the talent of our students, the importance of theater arts education, the superheroes that are our theater teachers, and really providing our community a platform to lift them up.”
Broecker offers direct advice to students considering participation. “Just get involved with your school program and support the productions that your school is doing and look at both sides of the stage,” she says. “You know you may not be a dancer or a singer or an actor, but you may be really great as a lighting technician, and the Jimmy awards recognizes all facets of the theater.”
Looking Ahead to 2026
Building on the success of year one, the 2026 program introduces refinements for fairness and expanded reach, including new adjudicator assignments to each school for fresh perspectives. Nominations will be announced on May 7, 2026, via livestream on KPA Bradley Awards social media channels. This year’s awards will be held at the historic Brown Theatre on Sunday, May 31, 2026, at 5 p.m., with rehearsals scheduled for May 29 and 30. Public tickets will go on sale in mid-May at KentuckyPerformingArts.org, with strong demand expected to sell out the 1,400-seat Brown Theatre.
The evening will feature a red-carpet pre-show beginning at 4 p.m., opening and closing Showcase Ensemble numbers (two students per school plus leading-role nominees), medley performances by leading-role nominees, excerpts from nominated productions in the Best Overall Musical Production category, award presentations with acceptance speeches, and a special video montage of Kentucky and Southern Indiana natives now working professionally on Broadway, offering encouragement and living proof that local talent can reach national stages.
A new highlight for 2026 is the Student Reporter program, featuring Audrey Harris from Sacred Heart Academy and Colby Pennington from Floyd Central High School, who will cover the event on social media and host the red carpet, with the opportunity to represent the region at the national level.
In just its second year, the KPA Bradley Awards have evolved from a promising new initiative into a powerful celebration of youth artistry, educator dedication, community collaboration, and the enduring legacy of Bradley Broecker, solidifying Louisville’s place as a dynamic hub for cultural innovation and inspiring the next generation of performers, technicians, and arts advocates to dream big.
CLICK HERE for more information about this year’s Bradley Awards.
