The sound of those coveted golden envelopes being opened will soon be heard again as the Southern Daily Echo gears up for its prestigious Curtain Call Awards 2002.

Hailed as the Oscars of the amdram world, the date is set for the third awards ceremony - Friday, January 24 at the Winchester Guildhall.

This year's event promises to be an even more grand and exciting affair with a full house of more than 300 performers and backstage people expected to attend the glittering awards ceremony.

The Daily Echo is also pleased to announce that ticket prices will remain the same as last year with also a buffet ticket option to allow even more people to attend this special night.

The ten-strong team of Curtain Call judges have spent the last year trekking across the south to see plays from as far afield as Andover and Salisbury. Curtain Call co-ordinator Tracie Billington-Beardsley said: "With a bigger team of judges, we have been able to see so many more plays. This year we have seen over 70 different shows - that's triple what we reviewed last year."

The Curtain Call awards recognise and reward all the hard work that goes into amateur dramatic productions whether it's in the spotlight or behind the curtain, with awards for Best Actor through to Best Costumes and Best Lighting and Effects.

This year, the awards team have introduced three new categories: Shakespeare, Operas and Operettas and Youth Productions.

Judging such a huge number of shows was no easy task. Tracie added: "It took us hours to pool our thoughts and discuss the nominations.

The standard has been incredibly high this year - the best so far - especially in the musical section.

"In some categories there are more nominations than others because there were far more shows in that genre to choose from.

"As well as the nominations, it has been an incredibly difficult job deciding on the actual overall winners, whose names remain top secret until the night of the awards!"