The Po'okela Awards, on hiatus this year, will return in 2006 to recognize contributions to local theater with a revised format, a new judging process and no contest.

Members of the sponsoring Hawai'i State Theatre Council decided to resume the awards. However, there will not be nominees and winners; one round of judging will produce a list of honorees.

The remake could expand the roster of honorees, said HSTC president Deena Dray.

"It was the consensus of the board that it would be better to have too many winners," Dray said. "Because the awards are competitive, we decided to try to make the awards as inclusive as possible. This won't dilute the honor, but could possibly mean we have more 'winners.' I imagine that there would rarely be a single winner."

The council made changes after considering results of a recent survey, Dray said.

"We learned most respondents favor keeping the awards — although many are concerned about the judging process," she said. "Also, most people liked the idea of expanding the awards to the Neighbor Islands, though that presents some challenges."

Ultimately, she said, the Po'okela Awards should "celebrate community theater but not encourage competition, since community theaters here are so diverse in size, budget, audience and mission."

Theatergoers recruited as judges will work with HSTC, learning skills to evaluate productions in directing, lighting, sound, costuming and set design (in addition to performance).

"Peers judging each other doesn't work," Dray said.

Lay theatergoers are sought to judge productions and provide the roster of awardees.