Ovation Awards
The Ovation Awards recognize an individual or group's dedication to building and sustaining arts and culture in Montgomery County through active participation in the arts and/or support of the arts. Established by the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts (CECA, or "seek-ah") in 1995, the Ovation Awards are presented each Spring. This year's event will once again feature collaborative performances by APSU and community arts groups.
The Ovation award categories include:
Artist: A living Tennessee artist active in the field of literature, visual arts, performing arts, music, folk arts, architecture, and design, who lives or lived in Montgomery County.
Young Artist: A current high school student in Clarksville-Montgomery County who has shown exceptional dedication, skill, and talent in visual art, dance performance, theatre performance, instrumental music, vocal performance, or creative writing. Six winners will be selected, not specific to disciplines. Winners will receive a $75 cash prize and will be strongly considered when applying for one of two annual $1,000 endowed arts scholarships at APSU, established by the CECA Advisory Board.
Arts Educator: An exemplary K-12 teacher of any art form working full-time in Montgomery County who has made an exceptional impact on students and his/her school environment. The winner of the Arts Educator award will receive a cash prize of $100 and an additional $100 prize for his/her school arts program.
Business: A business or corporation that has made a significant contribution to support arts and culture in Montgomery County. Government agencies are ineligible.
Community: A Tennessee community organization or institution for an outstanding arts-based community program or project. Schools and the school district are ineligible in this category.
Thank you to our 2020 Ovation Award Sponsors:
Past Ovation Award Recipients:
Mabel Larson (1996)
James T. Mann (1996)
Peggy D. Harvill (1997)
Olen Bryant (1998)
Charlsie Halliburton (1999)
Arthur Goldsmith (2000)
John McDonald (2001)
Tom Thayer (2001)
Joyce T. Norris (2002)
Sally Welch (2003)
Lilo Rogoish (2004)
Ned Crouch (2005)
Charlotte O. Marshall (2010)
Susan Bryant (2011)
Mike Fink (2012)
Tom Rice (2013)
Mike Andrews (2014)
Billy St. John (2015)
Debbie Wilson (2016)
Beverly Parker (2017)
Dr. James Diehr (2018)
Billy Renkl (2019)
Olasubomi Aka-Bashorun (2020)
Webb Booth, Elizabeth Coleman, Autumn Crofton, Haedyn King, and Hugh Poland (2011)
Abigail Elmore (2012)
Elizabeth Bell and Brittney Griffin (2013)
Clare Grady, Will Silvers, and Jeremy Carey (2014)
Kayleigh Baird, Terrell Boykin, Arizona Hurn, and Amy Wyer (2015)
Jacob Capps, Brandon Crite, Mercedes Johnson, and Jonathan Weidner (2016)
Abbey Hogan, Aaron Smith, Alana Clayton, Bianca Moore, and Addisyn Bryant (2017)
Chandler Vinson, Savanna Watson, Alycia Shipley, Summer Long (2018)
Ella Stewart, Gabriel Robles-Nieles, Nathaniel Pittman, Seth Devine, Allana Petsch, Kathryn Boyer (2019)
Anton Jepson, Angel Colon-Zapata, Phoenix Sims, Sarah Brandon, Lauren Shinn, Lena Stanley (2020)
Leigh Averitt (2019)
Barbara Wesner (2020)
Established in 2019
F&M Bank (2010)
Silke's Old World Breads (2011)
The Leaf Chronicle (2012)
Beachaven Vineyards & Winery (2013)
The Framemaker (2014)
Planters Bank (2015)
Richview Family Dentistry (2016)
Hand Family Companies (2017)
Clarksville Foundry (2018)
Journey's Eye Studio (2019)
Thorncraft Publishing (2020)
Downtown Clarksville Association (2010)
Empty Bowls (2011)
The Roxy Regional Theatre (2012)
Immaculate Conception Church/International Festival (2013)
Family & Community Education Association (2014)
Downtown Artists' Co-op (2015)
Madison Street Music & Arts Academy (2016)
Hilldale Civitan Club (2017)
Arts for Hearts Clarksville (2018)
Cumberland Winds (2019)
ArtLink (2020)
Frank Lott (2010)
Anne Glass (2011)
Olen Bryant (2012)
David Alford (2013)
Joseph B. Trahern, Jr. (2014)
Joe Giles (2015)
Wade Bourne (2016)
Evans Harvill (2017)
Dr. Gregory Wolynec (2018)
Ryan Bowie (2019)
Solie Fott (2020)
