WILD Producties, a Utrecht theatre company made by and for trans and genderqueer people, has won the 2026 Annie Brouwer-Korf Prize, the gemeente announced. The prize comes with €5,000.

What the prize is

The Annie Brouwer-Korf Prize honours people, organisations, initiatives or projects that work for the acceptance and visibility of the LGBTIQA+ community in Utrecht. It has been awarded since 2007 and is named after Annie Brouwer-Korf (1946–2017), who was mayor of Utrecht from 1999 to 2008. She received the first prize herself in 2007. Since 2023, the Utrecht Queer Culture Festival has organised the prize.

Why WILD won

According to the gemeente, the jury chose WILD from nearly 40 nominations and did so unanimously. The jury described the company as "much more than a theatre production house", in the gemeente's Dutch wording "veel meer dan een theaterproductiehuis".

The gemeente says WILD offers trans and genderqueer people a place to meet and to make theatre. Each year it works with professional theatre makers and other artists on several productions for audiences. Everyone involved, on stage and behind the scenes, is trans and/or genderqueer.

The jury highlighted that WILD supports its performers, mostly young people, beyond the stage. It makes impressive productions that also tour outside Utrecht, and the themes come from the participants themselves. WILD also runs a secondary programme of social meetups and an annual theatre camp.

Two other candidates were nominated and, according to the gemeente, narrowly missed the prize: the Regenboogmaatjes project and Transcafé LVB.

The ceremony

Alderman Linda Voortman announced the winner on 11 October 2026 and presented the trophy on behalf of the municipality. The occasion was a festive show at De Helling, part of the Utrecht Queer Culture Festival, which ran from 2 to 11 October this year. Ama Boahene hosted, speaking with former alderman Gilbert Isabella about Annie Brouwer-Korf, the nominees and Voortman. Singer Ritchie Lahnstein performed, with stand-up comedy from Celine Schrama and Kuvali.

Why it matters for residents

For readers who cannot follow Dutch-language local news, the prize is a window into a part of Utrecht's cultural life that is easy to miss: a company where a community makes its own work, with its own stories, and takes it to audiences beyond the city. The €5,000 is the prize money; the gemeente's announcement does not say how WILD plans to use it.

This account rests on the gemeente's announcement alone, and the jury's reasoning is reported as the gemeente relays it.