Spotlite: Awards and Recognitions

At Penn, we're accustomed to winning awards. Our department chairs are distinguished, our graduate schools are gilded, our research is renowned. Most of us won awards before being accepted to Penn, many picked up more accolades at Penn, and thousands went on to careers marked by winning endeavors.

Students in Penn's Performing Arts earned a remarkable array of awards last year, the product of dedication, tireless commitment to their art form, and rigorous discipline. I commend them, and I am reminded of an actress friend of mine who recently picked up not one, but two prestigious theatre awards in Philadelphia. After years of struggling to prove herself, she's finally getting the recognition she deserves. Yet I wonder if winning has only exacerbated the anxiety and fear of future failure that all actors face. Suddenly, perhaps, she has farther to fall.

So it seems to me that the truly lucky person is not she whose mantel is covered with medals, but she who almost got the gold. That competitor for whom the best is still yet to come. That traveler spurred on by a distant destination. For the Michael Phelpses of the world, can anything ever again live up to that shining Olympic moment?

So to all those award-winning artists listed below, congratulations on your remarkable achievements! Now, don't look back. Keep your hardest fight on the horizon before you. Make sure the best is always yet to come.

- Erin Reilly C'01

Student Awards/Recognitions 2007/2008

Tracks featured on the BOCA (Best of College A Cappella) 2008 CD:

• Off the Beat, Does He Love You? (Soloist Rina Goncalves)
• Penn Masala, Pehchaan (the track)

2008 CARAs (Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards):

• Off the Beat, The Empty Set: Runner up for Mixed Best Album in the country
• Donna Budica W'08, Off the Beat: Best Soloist for Mercy on Me by Christina Aguilera
• Penn Masala, Pehchaan (the track): runner-up for Best Scholastic Original
• Penn Masala, Pehchaan (the album): nominated for Best World/Folk album

Awards won by Excelano Project (Spoken Word):

• Brave New Voices International Youth Slam 2007, 1st Place
• ACUI (Association of College Unions International) College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational 2007, 1st Place
• ACUI College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational 2008, 2nd Place
• ACUI College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational 2008, Best Male Poet: Joshua Bennett

Additional awards and recognitions:

• The Penny Loafers: 2007 acaTunes award for the song Trains to Brazil
• Donna Budica W'08, Off The Beat: selected to perform the National Anthem and the Red and The Blue at the 2008 Penn Commencement
• Christina Catanese C'08: featured choreography at Koresh Dance Company's Artist Showcase in March 2008
• The Jane Wallace Memorial Theatre Internship Award was given to Jason Butler C'09, who interned at the Roundabout Theatre in New York with Penn Alum Managing Director Harold Wolpert C'88
• Gisela Garrett C'08, Theatre Arts Chair, was awarded a Lynda Hart award from the Penn Professional Women's Network and the Penn Women's Center for her "passionate commitment to improving the life of the student theatre community, and inspirational leadership in the organization and production of many theatrical venues keeps alive the creative voice and power of artistic expression at Penn in the true legacy of Lynda Hart"
• Kristen Beneduce C'08, PennArts Leader, was awarded a Lynda Hart award from the Penn Professional Women's Network and the Penn Women's Center for her "dedication and commitment to energizing the creative development in the visual arts at Penn, and engaging students in the rich opportunities that these artistic venues hold for them and the broader community, are exceptional and in the true spirit of Lynda Hart"
• Shane Valenzi '09, Penn Singers/Theatre Arts Major, was awarded the American College Theater Festival Region II Directing Scholarship

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