Well done to all the Junior College students involved in 2.0 Watts in the Dark for winning the Audience's Choice Award 2020 category of Il-Premju għall-Arti 2020 by Arts Council Malta.
2.0 Watts in the Dark was directed by André Agius and produced by the Ħolqa Creative Team 2018 composed of first year students following the Theatre & Performance programme in 2018. The original work entitled Watts in the Dark was first presented in St Augustine's Crypt, Valletta during the Ħolqa European Theatre Festival for Students 2018. The team then worked on a second version and adapted it for Notte Bianca 2018. This second version, 2.0 Watts in the Dark, was performed in Sala San Duminku, Valletta multiple times to a packed theatre every time.
2.0 Watts in the Dark was nominated earlier on this year for two award categories in Il-Premju għall-Arti 2020 : i) Best Work for Young Audiences and ii) Audience's Choice. The results were announced on Wednesday 8 April 2020 via streaming from an empty Manoel Theatre.
In their description of the award, Arts Council Malta stated that the Audience's Choice aimed to recognise the best artistic production according to the audience's opinion and experience of the project. All the nominated productions excelled in terms of their quality, impact and positive experience. Well done to young director André Agius and all the students involved in the production of 2.0 Watts in the Dark: Amy Attard, Carla Vella, Cheryl Hill, Emily Abela, Karin Grech, Kimberly Agius, Martha Maria Mangani, Michael Farrugia, Mikaela Vella, Mireille Borg, Naomi Scicluna, Neil Zerafa, Sara Gauci and Sian Jones. Thanks also to students Gabrielle Portelli, Mathea Martin and Kayleigh Farrugia who gave their contribution to the production of the original play.
It is good to note that André Agius also won Young Artist of the Year 2020 award for the significant number of high calibre artistic projects he was involved in, in the past few years including the Ħolqa Festival 2018 production. Kudos André.
If you wish to learn more about Il-Premju għall-Arti 2020 you may access the following links: announcing the winners and the audience's choice award.