Society of London Theatre Special Award
# Society of London Theatre Special Award

The Laurence Olivier Award for Society of London Theatre Special Award is an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial British theatre. The awards were established as the Society of West End Theatre Awards in 1976, and renamed in 1984 in honour of English actor and director Laurence Olivier, himself a 1979 recipient of this award.

This award was introduced in 1976. In 2020, the award was expanded with additional Special Recognition Recipients, recognizing a larger number of people each year for their lifetime of contributions to commercial British theatre.

## Award winners

### 1970s

| Year | Recipient |
| - | - |
| 1976 | Save London's Theatres Campaign |
| 1977 | Harry Loman |
| 1978 | Brian Clark |
| 1979 | Laurence Olivier |

### 1980s

| Year | Recipient |
| - | - |
| 1980 | Ralph Richardson |
| 1981 | none presented |
| 1982 | Charles Wintour |
| 1983 | Joan Littlewood |
| 1984 | Arnold Goodman |
| 1985 | John Gielgud |
| 1986 | none presented |
| 1987 | none presented |
| 1988 | Alec Guinness |
| 1989 | entire 1989 Oliviers were merged into 1990 |

### 1990s

| Year | Recipient |
| - | - |
| 1991 | Peggy Ashcroft |
| 1992 | Ninette de Valois |
| 1993 | Kenneth MacMillan |
| 1994 | Sam Wanamaker |
| 1995 | none presented |
| 1996 | Harold Pinter |
| 1997 | Margaret Harris |
| 1998 | David Mirvish |
| 1998 | Ed Mirvish |
| 1999 | Peter Hall |

### 2000s

| Year | Recipient |
| - | - |
| 2001 | none presented |
| 2002 | Rupert Rhymes |
| 2003 | Sam Mendes |
| 2004 | Judi Dench |
| 2005 | Alan Bennett |
| 2006 | Ian McKellen |
| 2007 | John Tomlinson |
| 2008 | Andrew Lloyd Webber |
| 2009 | Alan Ayckbourn |

### 2010s

| Year | Recipient |
| - | - |
| 2010 | Maggie Smith |
| 2011 | Stephen Sondheim |
| 2012 | Monica Mason |
| 2012 | Tim Rice |
| 2013 | Michael Frayn |
| 2013 | Gillian Lynne |
| 2014 | Nicholas Hytner and Nick Starr |
| 2014 | Michael White |
| 2015 | Sylvie Guillem |
| 2015 | Kevin Spacey |
| 2016 | none presented |
| 2017 | Kenneth Branagh |
| 2018 | David Lan |
| 2019 | Matthew Bourne |

### 2020s

| Year | Category | Recipient |
| - | - | - |
| 2020 | Special Award | Don Black Ian McKellen |
| 2020 | Special Recognition | Jo Hawes Thelma Holt Stephen Jameson and Sarah Preece Peter Roberts |
| 2021 | Not presented due to extended closing of theatre productions during COVID-19 pandemic | Not presented due to extended closing of theatre productions during COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2022 | Special Award | none |
| 2022 | Special Recognition | Lisa Burger Bob King Gloria Louis Susie Sainsbury Sylvia Young |
| 2023 | Special Award | none |
| 2023 | Special Recognition | Derek Jacobi Arlene Phillips |

* 1 2 Due to late March 2020 to late July 2021 closing of London theatre productions during the COVID-19 pandemic in England, the 2022 awards recognise productions that launched anytime from February 2020 to February 2022
