Nestroy Theatre Prize
The Nestroy Theatre Prize is an Austrian theatre award named after the poet Johann Nestroy. In 2000, the city of Vienna decided to combine two less noticed theatre awards: the Kainz Medal and the Nestroy Ring for Viennese Satire. The prize honours outstanding achievements at the Viennese and other Austrian theatres. The prize has been awarded annually in eight up to fourteen categories. Its ceremony is held in Vienna and broadcast live on national television.
Categories
- Best German-language performance
- Best direction
- Best equipment
- Best actress
- Best actor
- Best supporting role
- Best young talent
- Best off production
- Best play – Authors prize
- Lifetime achievement
- Special prize
- Audience award
- Best federal state performance
Recipients best direction
Recipients best actress
| Jahr | Actress | Production | Role |
| 2000 | Birgit Doll | Wer hat Angst vor Virginia Woolf? | Martha |
| 2001 | Judith Engel | Bash | Sue/Die Frau |
| 2002 | Ulli Maier | Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften | Agathe |
| 2003 | Maria Happel | Die Zeit der Plancks | Maria |
| 2004 | Birgit Minichmayr | Das goldene Vlies | Medea |
| 2005 | Sunnyi Melles | Geschichten aus dem Wiener Wald | Valerie |
| 2006 | Edith Clever | Schlaf | Die ältere Frau |
| 2007 | Sylvie Rohrer | Medea. A project by Grzegorz Jarzyna & Über Tiere | Medea, Monolog |
| 2008 | Regina Fritsch | Verbrennungen | Nawal |
| 2009 | Birgit Minichmayr | Der Weibsteufel | Weib |
| 2010 | Kirsten Dene | Eine Familie | Violet Weston |
| 2011 | Sarah Viktoria Frick | Stallerhof | Beppi |
| 2012 | Dörte Lyssewski | Endstation Sehnsucht | Blanche DuBois |
| 2013 | Christiane von Poelnitz | Elektra | Elektra |
| 2014 | Nicole Heesters | Vor dem Ruhestand | Vera |
| 2015 | die unverheiratete | Die Alte | |
| 2016 | Sona MacDonald | Fräulein Julie & Blue Moon | Julie, Sie |
| 2017 | Stage version of The Damned | Sophie von Essenbeck | |
| 2018 | Caroline Peters | Hotel Strindberg | multiple roles |
| 2019 | Steffi Krautz | Endstation Sehnsucht | Blanche DuBois |
| 2020 | Caroline Peters | Schwarzwasser | |
| 2021 | Lina Beckmann | Richard the Kid & the King | Richard |
| 2022 | Sarah Viktoria Frick | Adern | Aloisia |
| 2023 | Saioa Alvarez Ruiz | Ophelia's Got Talent | - |
| 2024 | Julia Edtmeier | Amadeus | Mozart |
Recipients best actor
| Year | Actor | Production | Role |
| 2000 | Gert Voss | Die Möwe | Trigorin |
| 2001 | Sven-Eric Bechtolf | Drei Mal Leben | Hubert Finidori |
| 2002 | Sven-Eric Bechtolf | Das weite Land | Hofreiter |
| 2003 | Markus Hering | Chorphantasie | Conductor |
| 2004 | Toni Slama | Automatenbüffet | Adam |
| 2005 | Michael Maertens | König Ottokars Glück und Ende | Rudolf von Habsburg |
| 2005 | Nicholas Ofczarek | Zu ebener Erde und erster Stock, König Ottokars Glück und Ende | Johann, Zawisch |
| 2006 | Nicholas Ofczarek | Höllenangst | Wendelin |
| 2007 | Bernhard Schir | Das Fest | Christian |
| 2008 | Markus Hering | Verbrennungen, Freier Fall, Pool | Hermile, Erich, C |
| 2009 | André Jung | Das letzte Band / Bis dass der Tag euch scheidet oder Eine Frage des Lichts | Krapp |
| 2010 | Martin Wuttke | Das Begräbnis & Peking Opel | Christian |
| 2011 | Max Mayer | Grillenparz & Bruno Schulz: Messias | Hunter called Fischer, multiple roles |
| 2012 | Joachim Meyerhoff | Die Kommune | - |
| 2013 | Gregor Bloéb | Jägerstätter | Franz Jägerstätter |
| 2014 | August Diehl | Hamlet | Hamlet |
| 2015 | Martin Wuttke | John Gabriel Borkman | John Gabriel Borkman |
| 2016 | Rainer Galke | Alte Meister | Irrsigler |
| 2017 | Joachim Meyerhoff | Die Welt im Rücken | |
| 2018 | Peter Simonischek | The Who and the What | Afzal |
| 2019 | Steven Scharf | Medea and Woyzeck | Lucas and Franz Woyzeck |
| 2020 | Franz Pätzold | Die Bakchen | Dionysos |
| 2021 | Michael Maertens | Der Leichenverbrenner | Karel Kopfrkingl |
| 2022 | Samouil Stoyanov | humanistää! – eine abschaffung der sparten | |
| 2023 | Michael Maertens | Das weite Land | Friedrich Hofreiter |
| 2024 | Claudius von Stolzmann | Der Himbeerpflücker | Zagl |
Recipients best play – authors prize
| Year | Play | Author |
| 2000 | Der Name | Jon Fosse |
| 2001 | Die Unsichtbare. Tirade an drei Stränden | Christoph Ransmayr |
| 2002 | Push up 1 – 3 | Roland Schimmelpfennig |
| 2003 | Chorphantasie | Gert Jonke |
| 2004 | Die Ziege oder Wer ist Sylvia? | Edward Albee |
| 2005 | Hunt oder Der totale Februar | Franzobel |
| 2006 | Die versunkene Kathedrale | Gert Jonke |
| 2007 | Das purpurne Muttermal | René Pollesch |
| 2008 | Freier Fall | Gert Jonke |
| 2009 | Besuch bei dem Vater | Roland Schimmelpfennig |
| 2010 | worst case | Kathrin Röggla |
| 2011 | Immer noch Sturm | Peter Handke |
| 2012 | Geister in Princeton | Daniel Kehlmann |
| 2013 | Schatten | Elfriede Jelinek |
| 2014 | Die Ereignisse | David Greig |
| 2015 | Die lächerliche Finsternis | Wolfram Lotz |
| 2016 | Lost and Found | Yael Ronen |
| 2017 | Geächtet | Ayad Akhtar |
| 2018 | jedermann | Ferdinand Schmalz |
| 2019 | Hass-Triptychon – Wege aus der Krise | Sibylle Berg |
| 2020 | Schwarzwasser | Elfriede Jelinek |
| 2021 | Rand | Miroslava Svolikova |
| 2022 | Adern | Lisa Wentz |
| 2023 | karpatenflecken | Thomas Perle |
| 2024 | Die vielen Stimmen meines Bruders | Magdalena Schrefel, Valentin Schuster |
Recipients lifetime achievement
| Year | Recipient | Laudator |
| 2000 | Otto Schenk | Sunnyi Melles |
| 2001 | George Tabori | Angelica Domröse |
| 2002 | Claus Peymann | André Heller |
| 2003 | Gusti Wolf | Michael Heltau |
| 2004 | Hans Gratzer | Michael Schottenberg |
| 2005 | Michael Heltau | Klaus Bachler |
| 2006 | Walter Schmidinger | Klaus Maria Brandauer |
| 2007 | Hilde Sochor | Paulus Manker |
| 2008 | Peter Zadek | Matthias Matussek |
| 2009 | Otto Tausig | Gerhard Klingenberg |
| 2010 | Ulrike Kaufmann and Erwin Piplits | Karl Markovics |
| 2011 | Peter Turrini | Kirsten Dene, text by Elfriede Jelinek |
| 2012 | Karlheinz Hackl | Heinz Marecek |
| 2013 | Luc Bondy | Johanna Wokalek |
| 2014 | Klaus Maria Brandauer | István Szabó |
| 2015 | Achim Freyer | Hermann Beil |
| 2016 | Frank Castorf | Jasna Fritzi Bauer |
| 2017 | Kirsten Dene | Michael Maertens |
| 2018 | Peter Handke | Klaus Maria Brandauer |
| 2019 | Andrea Breth | |
| 2020 | Christoph Marthaler | |
| 2021 | Elfriede Jelinek | |
| 2022 | Karin Bergmann | |
| 2023 | Emmy Werner | Karl Markovics |
| 2024 | Felix Mitterer | |
| 2025 | Martin Schwab |