2026 CATR Patrick O'Neill Award for Best Edited Collection

We are thrilled to announce that guest editors Pil Hansen and Jessica Watkin won the Canadian Association of Theatre Research Patrick O'Neill Award for Best Edited Collection for their remarkable work on Performance Matters, vol 11, no 1-2 on Dramaturgies of Accessibility, 2025.

The award announcement describes their incredible achievement in modelling accessibility in both the form and content of the publication:

"This year we have chosen to honour Performance Matters, vol 11, no 1-2 on Dramaturgies of Accessibility with the Patrick O’Neill Prize. We noted the leadership the Performance Matters team consistently show in adapting the form of their publication to suit the needs of editors and their projects. This special issue, edited by Pil Hansen and Jessica Watkin, features a clear and necessary centering of disabled artists and scholars, as well as inspiring and varied forms of collaboration. The ways in which accessibility is discussed and represented throughout the publication can serve as new benchmarks for our field, expanding our collective understanding about what is both possible and necessary moving forward in theatre and performance research. Rich in theoretical insight and lived experience, this is transformative work that will shape practice as well as discourse within Theatre and Performance Studies for years to come."

We are honoured to have been a part of this project and are so pleased that Hansen and Watkin are receiving well-deserved recognition for all of their important work on this double issue.