The peer-juried awards program was initiated in 2006 as a result of discussion at an open meeting of the regional Canadian Actors’ Equity Association, with the first year for the distribution of the awards being in 2007.

Performances are attended by teams of juries of local arts professionals (14 English, 8 French jurors in 2009).

These juries nominate and vote on the productions by secret ballot with the results tallied by local impartial accountants.

The secret ballot system was put in place to promote an honest assessment of the work and to avoid politics, making the awards as impartial as possible.

For the calendar year 2009, 40 English and 11 French professional theatre productions were juried.