Award Winning Students

We are so proud of our talented Sellwood Studio students who competed at the Annual Governor’s Awards Competition hosted by Speech and Theatre Association of New Jersey (STANJ). Congratulations to Caroline Byrne, Lauren Byrne, Sophie Santoriello, Jonas Wilcox,Jack Howden and Becca Axler for their outstanding performances and placements in various categories. Their hard work and dedication truly paid off!

Special shout-out to Jonas Wilcox for placing 1st in Contrasting Monologues, Jack Howden for placing 1st in Character Analysis and being a finalist in the Dramatic Pair category and Becca Axler for placing 6th in Musical Solo.

We are thrilled to see our students achieve such impressive results in this highly competitive event that involves hundreds of students from high schools throughout New Jersey.

Congratulations to Katie Holzer for her incredible accomplishments! Not only did she land the lead role of Mal in Descendants at Montclair Kimberley Academy, but she also won the prestigious YoungArts Award for Voice in Popular Music category.

The YoungArts National Competition winners are chosen for their caliber of artistic achievement by esteemed discipline-specific panels of artists through an adjudication process that includes multiple rounds of review. This award recognizes work that demonstrates exceptional technique; a strong sense of artistry; and a depth of thinking/performance that exceeds the level of peers at this career stage. In addition to a monetary award, Katie will receive a medallion, a lifetime of creative and professional support, and access to YoungArts Post—a private, online portal for YoungArts artists to connect, share their work and discover new opportunities.

Katie, we are so incredibly proud of you and look forward to see what else the future has in store for you!

We are incredibly proud of all our amazing students who competed in the NATS NYC Student Auditions yesterday! Their talent, hard work, and dedication truly stood out, and we are beyond excited to celebrate their achievements.

Every single participating student earned scores in the 90s.

Congratulations to all our incredible performers:

Miya Behrmann | Caroline Byrne | Lauren Byrne | Scarlett Hamilton | Kyra Longenecker | Jake Naughton | Kelsey Pollack | Delilah Rowe | Scarlett Sellwood | Sienna Sellwood | Olivia Shapiro | Jonas Wilcox

A special shoutout to our winners:

Children 1A

2nd Place: Olivia Shapiro

3rd Place: Sienna Sellwood

Children 1B

2nd Place: Scarlett Hamilton

Youth 2A

1st Place: Jake Naughton

2nd Place: Miya Behrmann

Youth 2B

1st Place: Scarlett Sellwood

Upper High School, Musical Theatre

2nd Place: Lauren Byrne

2nd Place (a tie!): Delilah Rowe

We are so excited to see what’s next for these rising stars as they head into regionals!

Exciting news! Ren Bailey, a student of Ms. Ashley’s, has won the prestigious Perry Award for Outstanding Youth Actor in a Play! Ren’s captivating performance in Chatham Community Players’ Jersey Voices One Act Festival 2023 earned this well-deserved recognition. Congratulations Ren, we are so proud of you!