Tony Awards are presented annually for distinguished achievements the previous season in the Broadway theater in New York City. The awards are named for Antoinette Perry, an American actress, producer, and director. They are administered by the League of American Theaters and Producers and the American Theater Wing.
The Tonys honor achievements in about 20 categories, including best new play, best new musical, and best revivals of a play and a musical. Tonys are awarded for acting, directing, designing, orchestrations, and choreography. Special awards are also made for lifetime achievements in the theater and to a distinguished American regional theater.
A Tony Awards committee appoints a group of theater professionals to select four nominations for each category. Several hundred theater professionals and journalists then vote on the winners. Winning a Tony, or even being nominated for the award, has become important to the box-office success of many Broadway shows.
The Tony Awards were founded in 1947 as an annual award. However, no awards were presented in 2020. In March of that year, Broadway theaters had closed because of social distancing measures necessary to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic (worldwide epidemic). The theaters did not begin to reopen until the autumn of 2021. In September, Tony Awards were presented to honor achievements in the plays and musicals of the 2019-2020 season that had opened before the closure of theaters.
