The Central Ohio Theatre Critics Circle presented its 18th annual citations for outstanding theater efforts of the past year during its annual Theater Awawrds Night on January 29. The circle annually honors local groups or individuals whose work promotes the higher values of theater and expands the possibilities of theater, according to the Columbus Dispatch. Ohio State was recognized with one of four citations, for bringing Shakespaere to new audiences through its partnership with the UK's Royal Shakespeare Company, partiicularly for nurturning fresh ways to teach Shakespeare to Ohio schoolchildren and for its "Year of Shakespeare" that culminates in May with a young people's festival.

Other citations went to Shadowbox Live, the Short North Stage, and Otterbein's Ed Vaughan.