The award for the UK’s Most Welcoming Theatre – one of the categories in the Theatrical Management Association (TMA) UK Theatre Awards – is for the first time being opened to any professional theatre that offers legal and fair terms to all performers and stage management, in line with or better than the Equity Fringe Agreement. TMA venue members, previously the only theatres considered for the award, will be automatically entered for the vote, while others who register by 27 August will also be eligible this year. The award is now being made under the banner of the My Theatre Matters! campaign, which is run by the TMA in partnership with Equity and The Stage. It will be decided by public vote, to give local audiences the chance to voice their support for their local venue. The final public vote tallied for each theatre will be divided by the number of seats to ensure a level playing field.