Some of Broadway’s brightest stars currently headlining marquees, including Boop! The Musical’s Jasmine Amy Rogers, Dead Outlaw’s Julia Knitel, and The Great Gatsby’s Ryan McCartan, all got their professional start at the Jimmy Awards. Monday night at the Minskoff Theatre, home of The Lion King, a new crop of talented teenagers showed off their impressive musical theater skills at the National High School Musical Awards. Look out – many of them could be the new fresh face of Broadway.
This year’s winners Fabiola Caraballo Quijada from the Broadway Dallas High School Musical Theatre Awards and Chris Hayes from the Nevada High School Musical Theater Awards took home the top prizes of Best Performance by an Actress and Actor. They each received a $25,000 scholarship.
“It’s truly a dream come true,” Hayes told Broadway Direct on the Friday before the award show over video chat. “To watch people like Ryan McCartan, Andrew Barth Feldman, Reneé Rapp… they were in our exact shoes [a few] years ago. It’s just so inspiring to know I am where they were and to know that I could get to where they are.”
This year’s presentation, hosted by Josh Groban for the second year in a row, marked the 16th annual Jimmy Awards ceremony. The former Sweeney Todd star opened the show with some jokes like how the evening was the “Super Bowl for people who dream about getting spit on by Jonathan Groff,” and then got right into the main event following a week-long theatrical intensive for 110 high school students from across the country.
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The judges for the evening were some of the most influential decision makers of Broadway, including Montego Glover, LaChanze, Joe Machota, Alecia Parker, Marc Platt, Tara Rubin, Nick Scandalios, Bernard Telsey, and Lia Vollack. Preliminary judges who adjudicated and cast the nominees in the Character and Feature Groups included Kristian Charbonier, Stephanie Klapper, Sammy Lopez, Kevin Metzger-Timson, Dale Mott, Cody Renard Richard, and Rachel Sussman. Lin-Manuel Miranda attended the Jimmys for the first time as a presenter.
18-year-old Caraballo Quijada, who was one of eight solo finalists and a scholarship winner at the 2024 Jimmy Awards, returned to wow audiences for an outstanding third year in a row. Her expansive portfolio runs from performing as Nostradamus in Something Rotten! to singing “I’m Here” from The Color Purple as a 2024 finalist. This year, she performed in the character medley singing as Sandra Bloom from Big Fish and sang “Astonishing” from Little Women.
A Venezuela native, Caraballo Quijada developed her love for musical theater when she came to the United States in 2013. A decade later in 2023, Broadway Direct interviewed Caraballo Quijada about her experience at the Jimmy Awards. It was her first time seeing a Broadway show, let alone New York City, at the time. “I was like, ‘Wow, I’m breathing the same air as Ben Platt right now,’” she joked back then about being in the audience for Parade.
During her acceptance speech, Caraballo Quijada thanked her family in the audience and her family watching via live stream in Venezuela, saying, “This is what immigrants are capable of. This is only the beginning, thank you so much.”
Fresh off being crowned a Jimmy Award winner, Hayes is going to the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music for Musical Theater in the fall. He performed as Gaston from Beauty and the Beast and sang the titular song from She Loves Me for his finalist performance. “I would have killed to be here right now about a year or two ago. It’s just so surreal. It’s been tiring in the best way possible, because that means we’re getting so much work done,” Hayes shares of his experience.
What a difference a year makes. Last year, he watched the show from his couch with friends cheering on Marie Munoz, a nominee also from Las Vegas in 2024 and 2025, and felt invigorated by past winner Damson Chola Jr. of the Broadway Dallas High School Musical Theatre Awards.
“I remember when he came on, there was just this energy. I say his energy was the most mature that I’ve ever seen come from somebody his age,” Hayes recalls of Chola Jr. ‘s contrasting performances of Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors and his solo, “Make Them Hear You” from Ragtime. “It showed how wide his range was and it showed just how ready for this career he is.”
Munoz shared that she found inspiration from him, too. ”I remember last year, right before the show, I was sitting off-stage left with Damson. I was talking to him and saying, ‘I’m so nervous. I don’t know if I could do this.’ And he was like, ‘Yes, you can. This is what we’re here for.’ His talent is remarkable, obviously, but to meet someone at that level that’s so humble and sweet and kind, I really aspired to be like him.”
Now they’re all role models to the next group of teens ready to showcase their talent at the Jimmy Awards.