The DPAC Rising Star Awards
Durham, NC
2026 Ceremony Date: May 17, 2026
The DPAC Rising Stars Awards is a program designed to celebrate outstanding achievement in high school musical theater. The program focuses attention on the meaningful work being done both on and off stage by dedicated teachers and students in the Durham area.
Nominees
2025
Carmen Sophia Dubon
Dee Dee Allen, The Prom
Weaver Academy
Josiah D. Jennings
Patrick Star, The SpongeBob Musical
Hillside High School
2024
Alex Fluker
Witch, Into the Woods
Panther Creek High School
Conor Kruger
Jean Valjean, Les Misérables: School Edition
Enloe High School
2023
Noah Colvin
Sebastian, Disney's The Little Mermaid
Enloe High School
Lilly Pritchard
Cady Heron, Mean Girls High School Version
Heritage High School
2022
Symoné Spencer
Fanny Brice, Funny Girl
Enloe Magnet High School
Joshua Thompson
Miles Tuck, Tuck Everlasting
Weaver Academy
2021
Elena Holder
Durham School Of The Arts
Joshua Messmore
Saint David's School
2019
Haven Bowers
Katherine Plumber, Newsies
Heritage High School
Benjamin Eble
Seymour, Little Shop of Horrors
Chapel Hill High School
2018
Mya Ison
Sarah, Ragtime
Enloe Magnet High School
Sterling Jones
Gaston, Beauty and the Beast
Needham B Broughton High School
2017
Nicholas Kraft
Frank Abagnale, Jr., Catch Me If You Can
Clayton High School
Kaylee Terrell
Elle Woods, Legally Blonde the Musical
Panther Creek High School
2016
Jacob Bush
Amos Hart, Chicago
Green Hope High School
Ainsley Seiger
Wednesday Addams, The Addams Family
Apex High School
2015
Alex Fernandez
John, Miss Saigon
William G. Enloe High School
Faith Jones
Dorothy, The Wiz
C.E. Jordan High School
2014
English Bernhardt
Esther Smith, Meet Me in St. Louis
Ravenscroft School
Matthew Washington
Ren McCormack, Footloose
Athens Drive High School
2013
Samuel Hamashima
Baker, Into the Woods
Green Hope High School
Anna Higginson
Millie Dillmount, Thoroughly Modern Millie
Sanderson High School
2012
Gretchen Struckmeyer
Eliza Doolittle, My Fair Lady
Millbrook High School
Joshua Williams
Lancelot, Camelot
Cary High School
2011
Amanda Leslie Higgins
Belle, Beauty and the Beast
Fuquay-Varina High School
K. Nathan McHenry
John Jasper, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Apex High School