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. To make a nomination, please see Awards Nomination.
Take a look at all our honorees below.
IJA Award of Excellence
In recognition of excellence in the art of juggling through professional performance.
Nominate someone.
| 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 |
| 2024 | Vladik Miagkostoupov |
Historical Achievement Award
In recognition of a lifetime of influential work and extraordinary achievement in juggling performance.
Nominate someone.
| 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 |
| 2024 | Dan Menendez |
Bobby May Award
In recognition of years of coaching and mentoring jugglers to help create and improve their acts.
Nominate someone.
| 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.
Nominate someone.
| 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 |
| 2024 | Viveca Gardiner and NeilFred Picciotto |
Honorary Life Members
In recognition of demonstrated long term service and commitment to the IJA.
Nominate someone.
| 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 Gorham 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.
Nominate someone.
| 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 |
| 2024 | Paul Klimek, Don Hatch, Mike Day, Adam Chalcraft, Colin Wright, Bruce Tiemann, Bengt Magnusson | ||
Sky King Award
In recognition of outstanding dedication to furthering diversity and equity in the juggling community by a BIPOC member of that community.
Nominate someone.
| 2021 | Sky King | 2022 | Zaila Avant-garde |
| 2023 | Sam Malcolm | 2024 | Jay Ko |
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.
Nominate someone.
| 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.
Nominate someone.
| 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 |
| 2024 | Logan Pearce |
People’s Choice Award
In recognition of having inspired and entertained attendees the most at the annual IJA juggling festival.  (Selected by the attendees at the IJA 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 | 2024 | Jonathan Leal Romero |
Award of Special Recognition
In recognition for providing exceptional promotion to the public of the art of juggling.
Nominate someone.
| 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.
Nominate someone.
| 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) |