A WANGARATTA theatre award has ended after 25 years, with organisers choosing to close the curtain while the audience is still applauding.
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The Zonta Awards for Performing Arts (ZAPA) held its final presentation night last week attended by nearly 200 people.
Run by Zonta International Wangaratta, the annual awards have supported dramatic groups in the Border and North East region since 1990.
President Christine Haddrick said Zonta members agreed 12 months ago to make this year’s ZAPA celebration the last.
"It had run its course as such for our club and we felt that 25 years was a very big milestone in which to finish off on,” she said.
"The club as a whole just made a decision … let's leave it on a high, leave it while it's well supported."
Mrs Haddrick said the change did not come from concerns about organisation or costs.
"We never ever ran it to make a profit so it had nothing to do with money whatsoever,” she said.
"Some of our focus I suppose is going back to the basis of why (Zonta) originally started, which is giving financial support to young girls and women within the region."
"As a club we decided that it was time to focus on some of our other facets that we're doing because the need with women's refuges and women's support is getting more and more.”
Theatre groups in centres such as Albury-Wodonga, Wangaratta, Yarrawonga, Corowa and Mansfield have embraced the ZAPAs over its history.
"To the extent where the Z, which is a wooden Z that would be given to the best actor, the best costume, the best show, those sorts of things, were a bit like the Logies,” Mrs Haddrick said.
“They were highly prized within the region."
But the president said the performers seemed to understand the present situation, with the final awards night being a great success.
Albury-Wodonga’s The Other Theatre Company won six ZAPAs this year for its production of Much Ado About Nothing. President Miguel de Oliveira said the ZAPAs had been valued by regional performers and groups.
"We all do it for the love of it, we volunteer our time but it's a nice way to recognise that hard work," he said.