The Twin Cities Arts Reader periodically issues awards for various items related to arts and lifestyle programming in the greater Twin Cities metro region. These awards are made through a three-part process:

1. TCAR staff nominate potential award recipients (generally individuals, productions, or organizations).
2. The Editor in Chief reviews each award proposal and determines whether or not to endorse it.
3. The final award proposal is sent to a staff committee for final approval.

No staff member may self-nominate for an award. Staff members whose external work is considered for an award will be recused from the award consideration, endorsement, and approval process.

The exact award categories will vary from year to year, as will the number of recipients.

Past Awards

• Read about the 2018 Minnesota Spice Awards in the Performing Arts.
• Read about our 2019 Minnesota Fringe Festival awards.
• Read about our 2018 Minnesota Fringe Festival awards.
• Read about our 2017 Minnesota Fringe Festival awards.
• Read about our 2016 Minnesota Fringe Festival awards.
• List of Arts Reader Award recipients.

Conflicts of Interest

In the event of potential conflicts of interest, staff members recuse themselves from the endorsement and approval process. Self-nominations are prohibited; however, we recognize that most of our staff are active in the Twin Cities arts and lifestyle areas, and do not exclude staff-affiliated activities and productions from consideration or coverage.

“Best of” Lists

End-of-year “best of” lists are written and compiled at the discretion of individual writers, and reflect their personal and professional opinions.