Telstra People's Choice Award

The Telstra Ballet Dancer Award has been made annually since 2003, in support of the aspirations of The Australian Ballet's elite young dancers. The winner receives a cash prize of $20,000. This is the biggest prize available specifically to a dancer in Australia.

Nominees are selected by The Australian Ballet and previous award winners. A judging panel composed of representatives from The Australian Ballet, Telstra and the media selects the winner based on "the artistic quality of their work, the strength of a written submission, their personal development, and future potential."

The awards are announced in early December in the Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House.

The 2010 announcement of both Award winners was made on the opening night of The Nutcracker on 3 December 2010. For the first time since the inauguration of the awards, the judging panel was unable to separate two dancers for the main award, and each received $20,000.

The 2011 awards were announced on the opening night of Romeo & Juliet (choreography by Graeme Murphy) on 2 December.

The 2012 Award winners were announced on the Sydney opening night of Stephen Baynes' Swan Lake on 30 November.

The 2013 awards were announced on the opening night of Cinderella (choreography by Alexei Ratmansky) on 29 November.

The 2014 awards were announced after a dress rehearsal of The Nutcracker on 27 November 2014.

The 2015 awards were announced on opening night of The Sleeping Beauty on 3 December 2015.

The 2016 awards were announced on the opening night of Coppélia on 2 December 2016.

In addition, the Telstra People's Choice Award, with a cash prize of $5,000, is made to the most popular of the nominees in that year, as determined by internet and SMS votes from the public. Since 2010, competitors report on their activities via an individual Twitter account as part of the competition, and in 2013 competitors began using Instagram as a publicity tool. Amber Scott was the first dancer to win both awards (in 2004) and Stephanie Williams the second (in 2009); Chengwu Guo the first male dancer to win both.Amy Harris and Danielle Rowe have each won the People's Choice Award twice.

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