The Portsmouth Herald recently announced the nominations for the Spotlight Awards. Scanning through the list of nominees I found that there was no option to vote for the people I felt most deserving. All nominations for The Spotlight Awards are made by 4 reviewers from the Herald. FOUR people should not be able to decide who gets recognition for their hard work and who gets ignored, especially when at least one of those reviewers has been the subject of many eloquent emails from theater goers, attacking his reviews, and objectivity. In the face of such vehement disagreement from the public, this reviewer's nominations become suspect. Voting for the Spotlight Awards is open to the public. There is an online voting procedure where each member of the community can support their choice by voting online. If the public is able to vote for their Spotlight Award choices, We should be able to nominate our local talent as well. It seems fitting that we, as patrons of the arts with a valued vote, should also be able to nominate talented individuals that deserve recognition. Does our vote really mean anything when the people we believe deserve the recognition most are not even on the ballot I propose that future ballots have a write in slot on the ballot. There has been a provision made where people can email in a write in vote but it is not part of the actual ballot and it can easily be "accidently" deleted. As for the Cast and Crew of Equus. You got shafted. You should have been nominated in most catagories as everyone involved was amazing. Reader, if you know of another cast, actor or play that was neglected a nomination,please leave a comment with your signature so that their talent can be recognized. If you believe that we should be able to nominate as well as vote for local talent to ensure that our local artists get the recognition they deserve, please sign this petition.

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