The Distinguished Improvisor Award

Written by Tara McEntee

Recognises an improvisor whose contribution has had a significant and lasting positive impact on the improv sector, through performance, teaching, leadership, community-building, mentoring or advocacy.

Beige scribble, with text overlaid naming the award, 2027

Criteria for consideration

  • Have performed as an individual in Aotearoa New Zealand during the 1 June 2026 to 1 May 2027 eligibility period.

  • Has demonstrated a commitment to the art form of improv and has contributed significantly to the form.

  • Has strengthened the sector through artistic leadership, teaching, mentoring, advocacy, community-building or service.

  • Is recognised by peers as contributing generously, ethically and constructively to the development of others and the wider art form, with honesty, transparency and care.

  • Embodies the NZIT values of integrity, inclusivity, community and empowerment through sustained collaboration, care, creativity and connection within improv practice.

Nominate for the Distinguished Improvisor Award here
Tara McEntee

Tara McEntee (Board Secretary) is an experienced improvisor, actor, teacher, and professional lady working in Te-Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington. She has been performing improv professionally for over 15 years, and is a bold, unabashed loudmouth about how improv improves lives.She has been part of Improsaurus in Dunedin, the Court Jesters in Christchurch, and is currently a performer and former Board Member of Poprox Improv in Wellington. By day, Tara works as a senior civil servant in the health sector. Wherever she goes, Tara inevitably gets her hands dirty in the nitty gritty of how to do things better, be it in performance, production, administration, or pandemics. She is passionate about the art form of improv, the community, and the potential for improv to be cemented as a core art form in New Zealand.

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