The Manhattan Association of Cabarets (MAC) is pleased to announce the 2022 winners of the Dottie Burman and John Wallowitch songwriting awards. Each recipient receives $500.

The Dottie Burman Award winner is John Forster. The John Wallowitch Award winner is Anson Jones

John Wallowitch and Dottie Burman were beloved songwriters in the cabaret community. When Dottie Burman passed away, her estate bequeathed $5,000 dollars to MAC to set up a songwriting competition in her name that would award a cash prize to songwriters aged 40 and over who have not yet received recognition for their writing talents. The MAC Board passed a motion to create a matching award in John Wallowitch’s name to honor songwriters under 40.

The Burman Award finalists were John Cook and D.C. Anderson and Steven Landau.

The Wallowitich Award finalists were Nicole Zuriatis and Jordan Friend.

The Burman Award Committee—Laura Davis, Noel Katz, Kim Grogg Marin, Sidney Myer, Jerry Phelps—narrowed the entries down to the three finalists.

The Wallowitch Award Committee— Frank Dain, Bob Diamond, Julie Miller, Lennie Watts—also narrowed the entries down to the three finalists.

Renowned actress and singer Nikki M. James was the Celebrity Judge who selected the winner from the finalists for both of the awards.

The Dottie Burman Award winner is John Forster
JOHN FORSTER’s songs encompass the worlds of theater, cabaret, comedy, and children’s music. His theater pieces include How to Eat Like a Child, Freaky Friday, Eleanor: An American Love Story, Mariel, Both Barrels, Pretzels, and many shows for TheaterWorks/USA. Other scores and sound designs include Bill Irwin’s The Happiness Lecture and the symphonic A Christmas Carol, starring Kathleen Turner. John’s solo albums include Entering Marion, Helium, Broadsides, and the upcoming Location, Location, Location. Among his many recordings for children are Family Tree, This Pretty Planet, and over a dozen other albums for such artists as Tom Chapin, The Olsen Twins, and Rosenshontz. Two recent children’s books from Simon & Schuster are based on his songs. John’s satirical debut album, Entering Marion, prompted legendary satirist Tom Lehrer to remark, “You don’t need me anymore. Now you’ve got John Forster to kick around.”  For more info visit www.johnforster.com

The John Wallowitch Award winner is Anson Jones
Vocalist, composer, and songwriter Anson Jones lists an eclectic palate of inspirations—her voice has a classic warmth, but her music has a wide sonic range that blends genres together with sensitivity. Anson started her musical life young, winning two Junior High School and two High School Downbeat Magazine Student Music Awards. She recently graduated from Princeton University (2022), where she won the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts and the Isodore and Helen Sacks Memorial Prize in Music. Now, Anson is in Paris on a Fulbright & Harriet Hale Woolley grant for instrumental composition, writing a jazz suite inspired by Parisian examples of glass architecture. Anson has an interdisciplinary mind—at school, she minored in architecture, cognitive science, and computer science. In the past, she worked in architecture firms and as a data science intern at a neuroscience lab, and she is an avid visual artist as well.

The Celebrity Judge
Nikki M. James is a NYC-based actor, writer, director, and singer. Originating the role of Nabulungi in The Book of Mormon, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She also starred as Eponine in the Broadway revival of Les Misérables. On television, Nikki has appeared on such shows as Severance (Apple TV+), The Good Wife (CBS), 30 Rock (NBC), Modern Love, (Amazon), and Braindead (CBS). She has also directed several episodes of The Good Fight (Paramount+). Nikki recently starred in the musical SUFFS at The Public Theatre. She is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

The Manhattan Association of Cabarets (MAC) was founded in 1983, primarily as an organization for cabaret owners, managers, and booking agents to meet and exchange ideas. The organization started accepting performers in 1985.

MAC’s mission is to advance the art and business of live entertainment. A trade association, its activities are designed to heighten public awareness of the field’s contributions and vitality, to honor its creativity, to build its current and future audiences, and to speak out as an influential voice on behalf of MAC members and the industry at large.

Members of MAC include cabaret, comedy and jazz artists, directors, musical directors, technical directors, musicians, club owners, booking managers, composers, lyricists, journalists, publicists, artists’ managers, agents, and friends and supporters of live entertainment.

Visit: www.macnyc.com