Kiara Geolina, a senior theatre major at San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts (SDSCPA), was recently named Best Actress at the 2021 Virtual Broadway San Diego Awards.

The annual awards program selects twenty local high school musical theatre students to perform in a one-night competition. In past years, judges attended qualifying musical theatre productions across the county to determine the nominees. In an effort to celebrate students amidst the pandemic, this year’s competition was virtual and did not require the schools to produce a full musical. Instead, high school educators nominated up to four students for Best Actor or Best Actress. Nominees were then invited to send in two audition solo recordings that were used to narrow down the field to the final twenty semi-finalists.

In addition to Kiara, three other semi-finalists were performers from San Diego Unified School district: Ethan Cruz (SDSCPA), Brendan Dallaire (SDSCPA), and Ben Jimenez (La Jolla High School). The remaining 16 participants represented eleven other schools in the county. With three semi-finalists, SDSCPA had the most students in the competition. According to the Times of San Diego, more than 90 students from 25 San Diego County high schools submitted audition recordings.

The Virtual Awards Ceremony was held over Zoom on May 20, 2021 at 7PM.

As the winners of the competition, Kiara and her Best Actor counterpart, William Morris from Canyon Crest Academy, will represent San Diego at the Jimmy Awards (the National High School Theatre Awards) on July 15, 2021. Formerly held in New York, the Jimmy Awards this summer will be held virtually.