We’re absolutely over-the-moon to announce that life-long champion of the arts and much-loved Birmingham Hippodrome staff member Liz Leck has been crowned ‘Theatre Employee of the Year’ at the 2017 UK Theatre Awards alongside English Touring Theatre’s Jane Claire.

The UK Theatre Awards is the only nationwide Awards of its kind to honour and celebrate outstanding achievements in regional theatre throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

This year’s ceremony took place at the prestigious Guildhall in London on Sunday 15 October with guest presenters including Emma Rice, Freddie Fox, Brenda Edwards, Jodie Prenger, Tanya Moodie and Tyrone Huntley.

Since joining Birmingham Hippodrome, Creative Learning Manager Liz has worked tirelessly to grow, develop and expand the work of Hippodrome CREATIVE, championing learning, engagement and access opportunities both in-schools and across the wider Birmingham community. Whether helping to deliver our expanding programme of Accessible performances, working with local secondary schools on one of our highly successful ‘Curtain Raiser’ performance projects or finding new ways to open up our surrounding streets and stages to the widest possible audience,  Liz’s signature warmth, personality and irrepressible passion for the transformative power of live performance shines through in every aspect of her work.

On behalf of everyone at Birmingham Hippodrome and beyond – we’d like to say a huge thank you to Liz for all of her incredible work here over the years and a heartfelt congratulations on her much-deserved success!

Here are just a few of our favourite reactions from the UK Theatre Awards on social media.