Between 2019 and 2022, CentreStage Performing Arts Academy — the Geelong amateur musical theatre company founded by David Greenwood OAM in 2010 — won, was inducted into, or judged five separate awards at the Geelong Business Excellence Awards. It is the closest thing the GBEA has had to a clean sweep by an arts organisation in the awards' history.
2019The Edith Harrhy + the first Health & Wellbeing win.
The first of the awards was the Edith Harrhy Award, presented to David Greenwood OAM by the Music Theatre Guild of Victoria for contribution to the artistic and cultural life of musical theatre in the state. The Edith Harrhy is awarded by peers — directors, musical directors, choreographers and performers — and is a personal rather than a corporate recognition.
The same year, CentreStage won the Health & Wellbeing Promoting Workplace Award at the GBEA, sponsored by Barwon Health. The citation recognised CentreStage's deliberate culture of mental-health support for performers and volunteers — a notable choice in a sector that historically runs hot on long rehearsal schedules and short tempers.
2020Small Business of the Year.
In a year when most live-performance businesses across Victoria simply went into hibernation, CentreStage was named Small Business of the Year at the 2020 GBEA, an award sponsored by Bendigo Bank. The recognition reflected the company's pivot to online classes, its support of contractors through the worst of the lockdowns, and its decision not to lay off any of its core production team.
A small business that has built something the city is proud of, and that runs as a model employer for its sector. — Bendigo Bank citation, Small Business of the Year, 2020
2021Hall of Fame & the second Health & Wellbeing win.
Three consecutive wins triggers Hall of Fame induction under the GBEA's rules — and so in 2021 CentreStage Performing Arts Academy was inducted into the Geelong Business Excellence Awards Hall of Fame. The induction is permanent. Inductees no longer compete in the general categories; they are invited each year to judge them instead.
The same evening, CentreStage took home the Health & Wellbeing Promoting Workplace Award for a second time — back-to-back with the 2019 win, and an unusual repeat in a category that turns over frequently.
2022Corporate Social Responsibility, and a judging seat.
The fourth and final win in the run came in 2022, when CentreStage won the Corporate Social Responsibility Award, sponsored by genU. The citation recognised the company's volunteer culture, its work with regional schools, and its consistent contribution to local charities — including ongoing partnerships with Cancer Council, Geelong Mums, Lara Football Netball Club, and the Lara Neighbourhood House.
David Greenwood OAM was also named that year as a first-year judge of the awards he had just been inducted into. The judging role is unpaid and runs for three years.
The full GBEA trail, in one place.
- 2019 — Edith Harrhy Award (Music Theatre Guild of Victoria, to David Greenwood OAM)
- 2019 — Health & Wellbeing Promoting Workplace (Barwon Health)
- 2020 — Small Business of the Year (Bendigo Bank)
- 2021 — Health & Wellbeing Promoting Workplace, second win (Barwon Health)
- 2021 — GBEA Hall of Fame induction
- 2022 — Corporate Social Responsibility (genU)
- 2025 — Youth Entrepreneur of the Year, David Greenwood OAM (Geelong Chamber)
PostscriptFrom Hall of Fame to OAM.
The four-year GBEA run set the stage for what came next. In January 2024, David Greenwood was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the performing arts and to business — citing the same workplace culture, volunteer base, and community contribution that the GBEA judges had recognised in the years preceding. In October 2025 he was named the Geelong Chamber's first Youth Entrepreneur of the Year.
CentreStage Performing Arts Academy continues to produce fifteen to twenty stage productions a year out of Geelong, supporting around five hundred volunteers and one hundred local contractors.