Honorary Awards
IJA Honorees
Each year at the IJA Festival, the International Jugglers’ Association honors individuals who have been exemplary in their talent and/or service to the juggling community. The IJA announces (typically late in the year) via the IJA eNewsletter when members can make nominations for awards and what the nomination deadline is (usually early in the year).
Take a look at all our honorees.
IJA Award of Excellence
In recognition of excellence in the art of juggling through professional performance.
| 1989 | Anthony Gatto | 1990 | Kris Kremo |
| 1991 | Sergei Ignatov | 1992 | Michael Moschen |
| 1993 | Gregory Popovich | 1995 | Dick Franco |
| 1996 | Albert Lucas | 1997 | Art Jennings |
| 2004 | The Flying Karamazov Brothers | 2006 | The Passing Zone (Owen Morse and Jon Wee) |
| 2007 | Raspyni Brothers (Barry Friedman and Dan Holzman) | 2008 | Fred Garbo |
| 2009 | Michael Chirrick | 2010 | Tuan Lee |
| 2011 | Françoise Rochais | 2013 | Jeton the Gentleman Juggler (Jens Thorwächter) |
| 2014 | Paul Ponce | 2015 | Charlie Frye |
| 2016 | Picasso Jr. | 2017 | Gena Shvartsman Cristiani |
| 2018 | Mario Berousek | 2019 | Nikolai Geraisimov |
| 2020 | Gandini Juggling (Sean Gandini and Kati Ylä-Hokkala) | 2021 | Alan Sulc |
| 2022 | Jay Gilligan | 2023 | Wes Peden |
Historical Achievement Award
In recognition of a lifetime of influential work and extraordinary achievement in juggling performance.
| 1991 | Trixie Larue | 1992 | Lotte Brunn |
| 1994 | Gus Lauppe | 1995 | Rudy Cardenas |
| 1996 | Bob Bramson | 1997 | Ernst Kuhn Montego |
| 2000 | Rudy Horn | 2001 | Fudi |
| 2002 | Evgeni Biljauer | 2006 | Kumar of India (Kumar Pallana) |
| 2008 | Tommy Curtin | 2009 | Dieter Tasso |
| 2010 | Nino Frediani | 2011 | Michael Davis |
| 2012 | Freddy Kenton | 2013 | Alberto Sforzi |
| 2014 | Airjazz (Peter Davison, Jon Held, Kezia Tenenbaum) | 2015 | Bobby Jule |
| 2016 | El Gran Picasso | 2017 | Tony Fercos |
| 2018 | Michael Moschen | 2019 | Angelo Piccinelli |
| 2020 | Gypsy Gruss | 2021 | Chrys Holt |
| 2022 | The Villiams | 2023 | Maruichi Senoh |
Bobby May Award
In recognition of years of coaching and mentoring jugglers to help create and improve their acts.
| 1995 | Dan Holzman | 2003 | Nick Gatto & Albert Moreira |
| 2004 | Robert A. Nelson The Butterfly Man | 2007 | Steven Ragatz |
| 2008 | Michael Rosman | 2009 | Jay Gilligan |
| 2010 | Paul Bachman | 2011 | Matt Hall |
| 2015 | David Cain | 2016 | Richard Kennison |
| 2023 | Judy Finelli |
IJA Extraordinary Service Award
In recognition of a consistent commitment to provide outstanding support and promotion for the field of juggling.
| 1989 | Karl-Heinz Ziethen | 1993 | Bill Giduz |
| 1997 | Richard Chamberlin | 1999 | Ginny Rose |
| 2000 | Rob Peck & Dina Scharnhorst | 2004 | Roger Montandon |
| 2005 | Martin Frost | 2006 | Sandy Brown |
| 2007 | Alan Howard | 2008 | Todd Strong |
| 2009 | Jerry Martin | 2010 | Kim Laird |
| 2012 | Jay Ko | 2013 | Don Lewis |
| 2014 | Marilyn and Mike Sullivan | 2014 | Paul and Gabi Keast |
| 2015 | Erin Stephens | 2016 | Scott Seltzer |
| 2017 | David Landowne | 2018 | Jay Green |
| 2019 | Dan Holzman | 2020 | Jack Kalvan |
| 2021 | Taylor Glenn | 2023 | Shivella Schwab |
Honorary Life Members
In recognition of demonstrated long term service and commitment to the IJA.
| Before 1979 | George Barvin* | Before 1979 | William Brown* |
| Before 1979 | Eva Crosby* | Before 1979 | Art Jennings* |
| Before 1979 | Bernard Joyce* | 1973 | Roger Montandon* |
| 1979 | Bill Dietrich* | 1979 | Bobby May* |
| 1979 | Stu Raynolds | 1983 | Roger Dollarhide |
| 1990 | Mary Wilkins | 1991 | Phineas Indritz* |
| 1995 | Eddie Johnson* | 1996 | Betty Willer* |
| 2012 | Martin Frost | 2021 | Alan Howard |
| 2023 | Arthur Lewbel |
* Passed away.
If you know the date of induction of any the ‘Before 1979’ Honorary Life Members, please contact info@juggle.org.
Excellence in Education Award
In recognition of outstanding efforts to teach juggling to non-jugglers and expand the knowledge of those who already juggle.
| 1991 | Dave Finnigan | 1992 | Mike Vondruska |
| 1993 | Jahnathon Whitfield | 1994 | Kit Summers |
| 1995 | Myron Wilcox | 1996 | Laurie Young & Kay Caskey |
| 1997 | Hovey Burgess | 1998 | Perry Rubenfeld |
| 1999 | Rob Peck | 2000 | Paul Arneberg |
| 2001 | Kevin O’Keefe | 2002 | Bud Markowitz, Michael Rosman & Todd Strong |
| 2004 | Jackie “Mr. E” Erickson | 2005 | Kevin Delagrange |
| 2006 | David Groth | 2007 | Art Thomas |
| 2008 | Joel Henderson | 2009 | Pierre Loiselle |
| 2010 | Liu Su-I 劉述懿 | 2011 | Gary Parker |
| 2012 | Richard Kennison | 2013 | Bekah and Warren Hammond |
| 2016 | Craig Quat | 2017 | Galen Harp and Ellen Winters |
| 2018 | Jacob Alex Dyer | 2019 | David Cain |
| 2020 | Bob Neuman | 2021 | Thom Wall |
| 2022 | Lauri Koskinen | 2023 | Niels Duinker |
Sky King Award
In recognition of outstanding dedication to furthering diversity and equity in the juggling community by a BIPOC member of that community.
| 2021 | Sky King | 2022 | Zaila Avant-garde |
| 2023 | Sam Malcolm |
IJA Sammie Vance Youth Civic Achievement Award
In recognition of the national or international impact of civic contributions by a person 18 years old or younger.
| 2019 | Sammie Vance | 2020 | Kayla Malmgren and Elizabeth Stockbridge |
| 2021 | David Pavlove Cunsolo | 2022 | Victoria Ren |
Flamingo Club Award
In recognition of outstanding support, inspirational skill, or exceptional promotion of juggling by a female-identifying or non-binary person.
| 1996 | Elizabeth Sanberg | 1997 | Dorothy Finnigan |
| 1998 | Nicole Deese | 1999 | Melinda Gonzalez |
| 2000 | Lana Bolin | 2001 | Valida Prentice |
| 2002 | Jenna Ackerman and Michelle Mills | 2003 | Olga Galchenko |
| 2004 | Clara McCreery | 2005 | Courtney Voss and Amanda Richter |
| 2006 | Kimberly Martinez and Aubree Kolas | 2007 | Grace Bidgood |
| 2008 | Taylor Glenn | 2009 | Holly Johnston |
| 2010 | Ashley Ellis | 2011 | Holly Kline |
| 2012 | Delaney Bayles | 2013 | Andrea Schmeissner |
| 2014 | Erica Liddle | 2015 | Sophia Rosman |
| 2016 | Amanita Glover | 2018 | Miranda Miller |
| 2019 | Ezri Wyman | 2021 | Lucy Eden |
| 2022 | Kaylin Meyers | 2023 | Jennifer Miller |
People’s Choice Award
In recognition of having inspired and entertained attendees the most at the annual IJA juggling festival.
| 1987 | Bounce & Ooo La La | 1988 | Philippine Pride Jugglers |
| 1989 | Sergei / Jeffrey Daymont | 1990 | Arsene |
| 1991 | Laura Green | 1992 | Elliot Cutler |
| 1993 | Masahiro Mizuno | 1994 | Ngaio Bealum |
| 1995 | John Gilkey | 1996 | Gil Pontius |
| 1997 | Jorg Muller | 1998 | Les Tourisks |
| 1999 | The Gandini Juggling Project | 2000 | Jason Garfield |
| 2001 | The Boehmer Family | 2002 | Perpetual Motion: Chuck Hawley & Anthony Shave |
| 2003 | Team Rootberry: Jonathan Root & Bill Berry | 2004 | Luke Burrage |
| 2005 | Matt Hall | 2006 | Tony Pezzo |
| 2007 | Get the Shoe (Florian Mueller-Reissmann and Jochen Pfeiffer) | 2008 | Billy Watson |
| 2009 | Doug Sayers | ||
| 2011 | Showy Motion – Stefan Brancel & Ben Hestness | 2012 | Jack Denger |
| 2013 | Kellin Quinn | 2014 | Kellin Quinn |
| 2015 | Delaney Bayles | 2016 | Geoff Marsh |
| 2017 | Zak McAllister | 2018 | Jonah Botvinick-Greenhouse |
| 2019 | Zak McAllister | 2022 | Esteban A. Cardenas |
| 2023 | Christian Kloc |
Award of Special Recognition
In recognition for providing exceptional promotion to the public of the art of juggling.
| 2013 | Patrick Sebastien |
IJA Founders Award
In recognition of a memorable performance at the annual IJA festival that reflects the spirit of vaudeville that the organization’s founders upheld.
| 1991 | Andrew Head | 1992 | Daniel Gulko |
| 1993 | Michael Menes | 1994 | Kosen Kagami |
| 1995 | John Gilkey | 1996 | Bob Nickerson |
| 1999 | Paul Arneberg | 2007 | Get the Shoe (Florian Mueller-Reissmann and Jochen Pfeiffer) |