Theatre World is an annual publication edited by John Willis. The awards self-titled awards were first presented in the 1944-45 season.

Among past winners include Betty Comden (1944-45); Barbara Bel Geddes, Marlon Brando (1945-46); Carol Channing, Julie Harris (1948-49); Charlton Heston, Grace Kelly (1949-50); Richard Burton, Cloris Leachman, Eli Wallach (1950-51); Audrey Hepburn (1951-52); Rosemary Harris, Eileen Heckart, Richard Kiley, Paul Newman, Gwen Verdon (1952-53); Harry Belafonte, James Dean (1953-54); Julie Andrews, Barbara Cook, Anthony Perkins, Christopher Plummer (1954-55); Sydney Chaplin, Jason Robards, (1956-57); Anne Bancroft, Richard Easton, George C. Scott (1957 58); Larry Hagman, William Shatner, Pat Suzuki, Rip Torn (1958-59); Warren Beatty, Carol Burnett, Patty Duke, Jane Fonda, John McMartin, Dick Van Dyke (1959-60); Elizabeth Ashley, Peter Fonda, James Earl Jones, Robert Redford, Brenda Vaccaro (1961-62); Alan Arkin, Liza Minnelli, Estelle Parsons (1962-63); Linda Lavin (1964-65); Zoe Caldwell, John Cullum, Faye Dunaway, Leslie Ann Warren (1965-66); Dustin Hoffman, Leslie Uggams, Jon Voight, Christopher Walken (1966-67); Sandy Duncan, Bernadette Peters, Michael Rupert (1967-68); Jane Alexander, Blythe Danner, Al Pacino (1968-69 ); Len Cariou, Lewis J. Stadlen (1969-70); Ben Vereen, James Woods (1971-72); Victor Garber (1972-73); Joe Morton, Ann Reinking, (1973-74); Christine Andreas, Tovah Feldshuh, Meryl Streep (1975-76); Joanna Gleason, Andrea McArdle, Jonathan Pryce (1976-77); Nell Carter, William Hurt, Judy Kaye (1977-78); Gregory Hines, Michael Jeter, Christine Lahti, Edward James Olmos (1978-79); Boyd Gaines, Richard Gere, Harry Groener, Lonny Price, Dianne Wiest (1979-80); Giancarlo Esposito, Cynthia Nixon, Amanda Plummer (1980-81); Karen Akers, Danny Glover, David Alan Grier, Jennifer Holliday, Elizabeth McGovern (1981-82 ); Matthew Broderick, Kate Burton, Harvey Fierstein, Peter Gallagher, John Malkovich (1982-83); Joan Allen, Glenne Headly (1983-84); Charles S. Dutton, Whoopi Goldberg, John Mahoney, Laurie Metcalf, John Turturro (1984-85); Alec Baldwin, Ed Harris, Marisa Tomei (1985 86); Annette Bening, Timothy Daly, Demi Moore, Molly Ringwald, Colm Wilkinson (1986-87); Melissa Gilbert, Aidan Quinn, B.D. Wong (1987-88); Dylan Baker, Joan Cusack, Sally Mayes, Kyra Sedgwick, Eric Stoltz (1988-89); Michael McKean, Mary Louise Parker (1989-90); Gillian Anderson, Adam Arkin, LaChanze, Lea Salonga (1990-91); Larry Fishburne, Jessica Lange, Laura Linney (1991-92); Michael Cerveris, Marcia Gay Harden, Andrea Martin, Liam Neeson, Stephen Rea, Natasha Richardson, Martin Short, Jennifer Tilly (1992-93); Jarrod Emick, Audra Ann McDonald, Anna Deavere Smith, (1993-94) Billy Crudup, Ralph Fiennes, Beverly D’Angelo, Calista Flockhart, Anthony LaPaglia, Helen Mirren, Jude Law, Vanessa Williams (1994-95); Viola Davis, Michael McGrath, Alfred Molina, Adam Pascal, Lou Diamond Phillips, Daphne Rubin-Vega (1995-96); Kristin Chenowith, Jason Danieley, Linda Eder, Allison Janney, Mark Ruffalo, Fiona Shaw (1996-97); Margaret Colin, Alan Cumming, Lea Delaria, Edie Falco (1997-98 ); Rupert Graves, Nicole Kidman, Ute Lemper (1998-99); Craig Bierko, Gabriel Byrne, Toni Collette, Stephen Dillane, Jennifer Ehle, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Hayley Mills, Claudia Shear (1999-2000); Juliette Binoche, Macaulay Culkin, Raul Esparza, Kathleen Freeman, Deven May, Reba McEntire, Chris Noth, Rosie Perez, Joely Richardson, John Ritter (2000-2001); and Simon Callow, Mos Def, Spencer Kayden, Gretchen Mol, Anna Paquin, Louise Pitre, Rachel Weisz (2001-2002).