The Michael Northen Bursary 2006, set up to reward students who show exemplary talent in lighting design, has been awarded to Chloe Kenward from the University of Hull, for her imaginative design for Egbert in the Underworld. The Bursary of £500, which was presented to Chloe by Rick Fisher,  is awarded for a project completed within the past academic year, and the judges felt that Chloe's work clearly demonstrated a strong creative flair.

The ETC runner up prize of £250, went to Richard Howell, The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, for his work on Twelfth Night, while Joshua Tomalin from LAMDA was awarded the ALD runner up prize of £250 , presented by Rick Fisher, for his work on Mathilde, Serious Money and The Misanthrope.

This year, for the first time, two special Honourable Mention awards, sponsored by PRG Europe, were awarded to first year students. The judges - Paule Constable, Mark Jonathan, Rick Fisher, Natasha Chivers, Sam Gibbons and Mary Pope - felt that the work done by Georg Spindler and Rene Zensen from LIPA on Ain't Misbehavin' deserved recognition, and the two students received £100 each from.Alan Thomson, director of PRG Europe.

The Michael Northen Bursary fund was set up by Michael shortly before he died in 2001 and is managed by ‘The Mousetrap Foundation', an organisation committed to supporting young theatre practitioners. It is awarded annually and applicants are required to submit work showing the development and processes of a successfully realised lighting design performance project completed during the previous 12 months. It must be emphasised that this is a design bursary and the entries are judged purely on imaginative design and creativity in lighting.