Awards Judges 2021

Sarah Lambie is the editor of Drama & Theatre and Head of Content for the Music & Drama Education Expo. Having studied English at Cambridge University and acting at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, she is a working actress and a tutor as well as a freelance editor and journalist.

Professor Gill Foster is the Head of the School of Performance at London South Bank University where she leads a thriving performing arts department. Gill’s research centres on the role of creative partnerships in developing inclusive, artistic working practices at the intersection of education and professional theatre. Gill has developed a range of innovative creative partnerships with training institutions and theatres, both nationally and internationally, based on a critical, performative pedagogy developed from the methodologies and practice of theatre and drama. Gill combines this approach to pedagogy with her own artistic practice as a director and dramaturg to create numerous learning opportunities for students through a range of unique, interdisciplinary theatre projects. Gill has worked extensively in China, Europe, the US and in Canada and in 2018, was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in recognition of her work in developing transformative outcomes for students. In 2020 she was thrilled to be awarded the Music and Drama Award for Drama Inspiration

Liam Harris is the current Chair of the National Association for the Teaching of Drama, having held the position since 2014. Liam graduated from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama before completing his PGCE at the Institute of Education, London. He was the Artistic Director of Bridges Arts Group for 6 years, working predominantly with refugees and asylum seekers using drama and theatre. Liam is also currently the Head of Drama at Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex, having previously worked as a teacher of English and Drama in inner city London.

Samantha is an Assistant Headteacher leading the Performing Arts at Coombe Boys’ School, Kingston and has been teaching for 19 years. In 2012 she became the AST for Drama in the Royal Borough of Kingston-Upon-Thames and in 2014 a Lead Practitioner. She trained at The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. Samantha and her team won the Outstanding School Drama Department award in 2020

Jocelyn Watkins is the Director of Music at Treloar school and College and been teaching there since 2008. Following training at the RCM junior department, Jocelyn studied music as part of her general arts degree at Edinburgh university. After completing her PGCE she worked in a mainstream setting before joining Treloar’s. In 2013 Jocelyn won the Classic FM SEND music teacher of the year and in 2010 completed her MA in Music Education and Psychology at the University of Sheffield. Jocelyn is currently working with NASS in their incubator programme to produce an innovation around music and assessment in an SEND setting. Jocelyn sees music as an act of communication that can reach out to everyone, and that should be accessible to all.

Norton’s work started in the late 1980’s with the Brighton Rock summer school which became a BBC Radio 1 event, his work as music education co-ordinator on the BPI/MU/Radio 1 Sound City festivals, and his book on the music business, ‘The Rock File’ for Oxford University Press. Norton’s first university lectureship led to establishing the UK’s first rock and pop foundation course which inspired the creation of RSL Awards and the world’s first grade exams for rock guitar and drums and for bass guitar as an instrument. Since 1991, RSL has grown to awarding qualifications in nearly 50 countries, and has expanded our portfolio to include music production and theory, vocational qualifications taken by stars such as Ed Sheeran, as well as exams in piano, keyboards, vocals and ukulele. He wrote the world’s first commercial music degree at University of Westminster, where he subsequently became chair of music, film and fashion by the late 1990’s. In this role he developed graduate recruitment schemes in partnership with EMI, Universal and Sony, and worked with leading music figures as external examiners (Dave Stewart and Stephen Warbeck), course tutors (Keith Harris and Mykael Riley) and course advisers (Horace Trubridge, John Kennedy) amongst many others.

Jonathan joined the Guildhall School as Director of Music in 2007. His role was enhanced in 2014 when he was also appointed Vice-Principal. After studying double bass and piano at the Royal College of Music, Jonathan worked with most of Britain’s major orchestras and opera companies. Alongside his performance work he gained valuable experience as a teacher and music educator. Jonathan is a former Chairman of the London Symphony Orchestra and was a playing member of the LSO for ten years. He became CEO and Director of the National Youth Orchestra in 2002 before taking up his current post. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and was awarded Fellowship of the Guildhall School in 2015. He has been a Governor and board member for many arts organisation and currently sits on the Young Classical Artist Trust and the Mendelssohn Boise Scholarship Foundation. Jonathan lives in Wiltshire with his wife, three children and one sadly neglected double bass.