Is there an award for getting rid of the word "citation"?

It would be hard to find a less sexy word than Citation for a theater prize. Yet that’s the identity the Jeff for non-Equity (a.k.a. non-union) Chicago theater has always assumed. There are currently two categories of Jeffs: Equity theater gets Jeff Awards in October while the non-Equity scene receives Jeff Citations in May.

Now, as the result of a “brand survey” designed to help re-assess the image of the Jeffs, the term Citation is being retired. Starting this May, at the only awards ceremony in the country we're pretty sure is still happening, non-Equity artists will be receiving Jeff Awards instead of Jeff Citations.  While the phrase “non-Equity” will be attached to the prize, it will still be called an Award nonetheless. (Might we suggest kicking things off with a non-Equity Jeff Award or two for the Hypocrites’ Miss Julie?)

It may seem like a small thing, but when you consider that a citation is what you get for violating traffic or smoking reefer, Award sounds way cooler, giving the prize a certain cachet that it’s long been missing. According the Jeff Awards’ marketing and media chair, coincidentally named Jeff Marks, the survey may also lead to new categories based on theater size and budget (though that move is still very much in the planning stages) as well as a new Jeff logo, which is also overdue.

Incidentally this means that the non-Equity Jeff Awards and Equity Jeff Awards can now be identified by the acronyms NEJA and EJA, which has Butter Battle War written all over it.

While the Jeffs consider a new logo to go with their new image, enjoy this photo we found of Jeff Goldblum.