CSA Costume Design Award

The CSA Costume Design Award is given annually to recognize excellence in costume design in a production for theatre, film, television, or other media that involves dressing living performers. Award-winning productions demonstrate creative, innovative, and effective approaches to costume design.


The designer of an award-winning production receives a certificate and a $750 honorarium, funded by the CSA Endowment (if the awardee is not a member of CSA, part of the honorarium will be applied toward membership in CSA). The designer is invited to present a brief overview of the design process at the National Symposium the following year and receives a $600 travel stipend and day-of-presentation registration fee, also funded by the CSA Endowment, to help defray travel and symposium expenses.


The CSA Costume Design Award, first presented in 2008, reflects the Costume Society of America’s interest in and encouragement of creative visual design. The award has recognized excellence in costume design in various ways over the years: originally awarded for an entire body of work, the current award is given for excellence in a single production.

  • Eligibility

    To be eligible for the award a production must:


    • be for living performers, whether for theatre, dance, opera, film, television, the internet, or other entertainment performances in traditional or non-traditional venues
    • have been performed in the 12 months preceding the nomination deadline

    Productions will be evaluated by: 

    • Demonstrated creative, innovative, and imaginative approach to costume design
    • Effective collaboration with the director, design team, and production team
    • Contribution of the costume design to the storyline and characterization of the performers
    • Quality of the presentation of costume design renderings
    • Quality of executed costumes and overall excellence as represented in submitted images and supporting materials

  • Nomination Procedure

    A complete nomination should be uploaded as one (1) pdf document under 100MB using this online submission form (available in summer of 2025) and include the following in listed order:


    • A title page including the name and contact information of the nominee
    • No more than 25 clearly labeled images (which may include links to short video clips) that give a visual overview of the production, selected costume renderings, realized costumes, and the inspiration/research underlying the creative work of the designer. 
    • A proposal that describes the following information:
    1. The medium in which the production was presented, including the venue and audience
    2. The concept for the production, including the director’s vision
    3. The collaborative process with the director, design team, and production team
    4. The inspiration and challenges of the creative costume design process
    5. How the costumes advanced the storyline and the characterization of the performers
    6. The practical production process, detailing how the costumes were executed

  • Rubric

    Each criterion is rated on a scale from 1-10, with 10 being the highest merit and 1 being the lowest.

    1. Design approach
    2. Collaboration
    3. Design contribution
    4. Presentation of renderings
    5. Executed designs

  • Award Schedule

    The nomination deadline is October 15, 2025.  Nominees will be notified of the results in mid-January 2026. Award results will be announced at the symposium.  The award-winning designer is invited to present an overview of the design concept and process at the following year’s CSA National Symposium.

Please Contact the Committee Chair

Kristofer Chang Alexander, for more information.

Contact Kristofer Chang Alexander

Recipients

2025

Dennis Wright


For his work on the production of House of Desires at Brigham Young University

2024

Daniel James Cole


For his work on the production of Ariadne auf Naxos

Arizona Opera

2023

Aly Amidei


For her work on the production of The Merry Wives of Windsor

2022

Sarah Jo Monaghan


For her work on the production of Mother of God

2021

No award given

2020

Denitsa Bliznakova


For her work on the production of They Promised Her the Moon at The Old Globe Theatre

2019

Rafaella Rabinovich


For her work on the film To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

2018

Amy Andrews Harrell


For her work on the television series Mercy Street

2017

Susan Hilferty


For her work on Salomé, produced at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington D.C.

2016

Terry Dresbach


For her work with the television series Outlander

2015

Sonia Berlovitz


For her work on Tartuffe, co-produced by the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, South Coast Repertory Theatre, and Shakespeare Theatre

2014

Award of Excellence in Professional Costume Design/Technology: Deborah Nadoolman Landis


Deborah Nadoolman Landis’s distinguished career includes costume design for films such as Animal House, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Coming to America (for which she was nominated for an Academy Award™), as well as for the video Michael Jackson’s Thriller. In addition to serving as president of the Costume Designer’s Guild, she is also a celebrated author, curator, and professor.

2013

Professional Award: Martin Pakledinaz, 1953-2012


Martin Pakledinaz designed on Broadway, in regional theatre, and internationally for dance, musicals, opera, and film. His creative talents won two Tony Awards and were shared with aspiring theatre artists through teaching. The award honorarium benefits a student scholarship in his name at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.


Early Career Professional/Student Award Albulena Borovci


Albulena Borovici earned an MFA in Costume Design from Carnegie Mellon University in May 2013 and also holds a BFA in Scenography from the Academy of the Arts at University of Prishtina. She has studied at the University of Montana and in 2013 received USITT’s prestigious Zelma H. Weisfeld Design & Technology Award.

2009 – 2012

No award given