WATCH: Lifetime Achievement honour celebrates Jim Nolan's immense contribution to the arts in Waterford
Jim Nolan pictured receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from Mayor of Waterford City & County Cllr Jason Murphy. Photo: Joe Evans
The biggest reception of the Waterford News & Star Green Room Awards 2025 was reserved for Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, playwright Jim Nolan.
Waterford's Jim Nolan is nationally and internationally regarded with a body of work that is truly remarkable.
Jim’s first play, 'The Flowers of May', was entered into a competition supported by the Waterford News & Star for new one-act plays. The prize was £100 and a performance of the work in the Theatre Royal.
Since then, Jim has written an astonishing 24 plays that have been performed both nationally and internationally – New York, London, Ottawa, Dublin and all over Ireland.
Watch a video below, shot by Colin Shanahan of DigiCol Media, of Jim being presented with his award
Jim is renowned for his writing and also for his generous promotion of young writing talent.
He was artist in residence at the Theatre Royal, Garter Lane and the Abbey Theatre, and has worked with and directed huge names in the theatre industry.
Jim is a published playwright with eight titles to his name and he was also a founder member of Waterford's Red Kettle Theatre Company.
During the Waterford News & Star Green Room Awards, held on March 2 in Theatre Royal, celebrating Waterford's rich arts, theatre and cultural life, the screen rolled footage in recognition of Jim’s contribution to Irish and Waterford theatre, which can be watched online here.
Long before the film finished, the audience were on their feet to pay tribute to this wordsmith of theatre and the ovation was long and sustained.
With thanks to our generous co-lead sponsors, proud patrons of the arts in Waterford:
