Samia Posadas and Jake James Crowned 2026 Jimmy Awards Winners
The two high school performers earned top honors during the 2026 Jimmy Awards ceremony in New York City
What to Know
- Samia Posadas and Jake James won the top honors at the 2026 Jimmy Awards, earning $25,000 scholarships
- The winners were chosen from 116 high school musical theater nominees representing 58 regions nationwide
- Hosted by Bowen Yang, the Jimmy Awards have awarded more than $9 million in scholarships since 2009
Put your hands together for the winners of the 17th annual Jimmy Awards. Samia Posadas and Jake James were bestowed the prestigious high school theater prize at the ceremony on June 22 hosted by SNL and Wicked film star Bowen Yang at Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre. Posadas and James will receive $25,000 each to further their education.
Posadas, who represented the Monte Awards of Tuscon, Arizona, was recognized for her portrayal of Alice Murphy in Bright Star. As a finalist, she performed “Where Am I Now” from Lysistrata Jones. James earned his spot through the Georgia High School Musical Theatre Awards—Shuler Hensley Awards and was honored for his performance as Jacob in Water for Elephants. He sang "It's Hard to Speak My Heart" from Parade as his solo song.
Other finalists included Langston Casey, Emersyn Hunt, London Mays, Amaya Washington, Jackson Wright and Josef Wright. The nominees worked throughout the week with a team of Broadway coaches, including Lisa Brescia, Janet Dacal, Colin Hanlon, MaryAnn Hu, Adam Kantor, Lily Kaufmann, Adam J. Levy, Desi Oakley, Eliseo Román, Lawrence Stallings, Steven Telsey and EJ Zimmerman.
The talent showcase included medley and production performances by all 116 nominees from 58 regions around the US and featured solos by selected finalists. Samuel Nelson III and Mason Alexander Park served as the ceremony’s special guest presenters.
The winners were selected by a panel of industry leaders: Montego Glover, Kenny Leon, Joe Machota, Alecia Parker, Marc Platt, Tara Rubin, Thomas Schumacher, Bernard Telsey and Lia Vollack. Preliminary judges included Kristian Charbonier, Stephanie Klapper, Sammy Lopez, Kevin Metzger-Timson, Dale Mott, T. Oliver Reid and Rachel Sussman.
The event was directed by Van Kaplan and choreographed by Luis Salgado and Theo Lencicki. Geoffrey Ko served as music supervisor and can be seen on Broadway.com’s 2026 Road to the Jimmy’s series. Jon Bauerfeld, Wendy Bobbitt Cavett, Steven Cuevas, Michael A. Ferrara and Noah Teplin assisted with the Character Medley arrangements. Jill Twiss served as the ceremony’s writer.
Formally known as the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, the Jimmy Awards celebrate outstanding student achievement in acting, singing and dance. The program impacts roughly 130,000 students each year and brings together more than 100 nominees from over 50 cities nationwide. Since its founding in 2009, the initiative has awarded over $9 million in scholarships and helped launch the careers of dozens of young performers.
Watch the winning performances below!