Olivier Awards

The Olivier Awards
2016 Laurence Olivier Awards
Laurence Olivier Award, designed by the sculptor Harry Franchetti. It depicts Olivier as Henry V at the Old Vic in 1937.
Awarded for	Best in London theatre
Country	United Kingdom
Presented by	The Society of London Theatre
First awarded	1976
Official website	OlivierAwards.com

The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. Originally known as the Society of West End Theatre Awards, they were renamed in honour of the British actor Laurence Olivier in 1984.

The awards are given to individuals involved in West End productions and other leading non-commercial theatres based in London across a range of categories covering plays, musicals, dance, opera and affiliate theatre. The Olivier Awards are recognised internationally as the highest honour in British theatre, equivalent to Broadway's Tony Awards and France's Molière Award.

Since its inception, the awards have been held at various venues and theatres across the capital and, most recently, the Royal Opera House since 2012. The BBC used to broadcast the ceremony on television, but ITV acquired the broadcast rights for the 2013 ceremony onwards. The BBC continues to broadcast radio coverage of the event each year.

The awards were first established in 1976 by the Society of London Theatre as the Society of West End Awards and were designed by artist Tom Merrifield. In 1984, British actor Laurence Olivier gave his consent for the awards to be renamed in his honour and they became known as the Laurence Olivier Awards. The first awards ceremony was held in December 1976 at Café Royal.

The Awards are judged by four separate panels for theatre, opera, dance, and Affiliate.

The majority of the Olivier Awards are presented in the theatre categories, which cover plays and musicals. The theatre categories are judged by the theatre panel, which has five anonymous specialist members who are chosen for their specialist knowledge and professional experience in addition to eight members of the theatre going public, four of whom judge plays, and four musicals.