Next weekend the winners of 2004's The Irish Times/ESB Irish Theatre Awards will be announced at a black-tie party at the Burlington Hotel, but this year's judges are already in place and have been out and about all month.
Philomena Byrne has been head of public affairs at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) since its foundation in 1991 and before that held a similar post at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. Prior to that she worked at the IDA, initially in the promotions department and later as assistant manager in the press department.
She has been a dedicated theatre-goer for more than 20 years and has also had a lifelong interest in classical music. She is a board member of the IIB Music in Great Irish Houses festival.
Tony Ó Dálaigh is an arts consultant who earlier combined a career in the Civil Service, where he was private secretary to four ministers for education, with artistic activities. He was general administrator of Irish Theatre Company from 1974 to 1978, director of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham (now IMMA) from 1986 to 1990, director of Dublin Theatre Festival from 1990 to 1999, and consultant to Draíocht arts centre from 1999 to 2001.
He received a special award in The Irish Times/ ESB Irish Theatre Awards of 2001 and was made a Chevalier des Artes et des Lettres in the same year. He was executive director of the opening ceremony of the 2003 Special Olympics World Games.
Patrick Sutton is director of Dublin's Gaiety School of Acting. He is a former artistic director of Wexford Arts Centre and TEAM educational theatre company. He is director of COMMUNICATE, a communications company working at senior level in industry, politics and the arts.
He is a member of the Arts Council and a board member of IMMA. As a writer (Tony Barrow) he has written Iscariot and Magdalen, the former of which toured in Ireland, the US and Moldova. He is currently working on a new play about copper-mining in Montana.