For the first time in its 53-year history, the Aiken Community Playhouse presented top honors to a youth wing production at its annual awards ceremony.

"That's surprising," said Thurmond Whatley, the president of the playhouse's board of directors. "It's great. They did a great job, but they had a lot of strong competition."

Staged in the fall, The Diary of Anne Frank garnered seven awards, including best actress, best director and best show at Thursday's awards ceremony at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts.

"I wasn't expecting this," said Nathan Greer, the show's director. "This (play) has always been close to my heart."

Mr. Greer said he took a lot of risks when putting the show together. The entire show was done in black and white, except for the brightly colored diary. The set was reproduced in the exact dimensions as the place where the Franks were hidden from the Nazis during World War II.

Lucy-Sue Herron, a Kennedy Middle School eighth-grader, received the best actress award for her portrayal of Anne Frank.

The show also won for best costume design, lighting design, set design and prop masters.

Little Shop of Horrors won several awards in the musical category, including best musical, best supporting actor in a musical and best actor in a musical.

The youth wing directors also presented four scholarships during the award's ceremony.

Katie Mikos received the $500 Parker Dean Scholarship; Will Royster received the $450 Will Cole Scholarship; Grant Luton received the $400 Joan Silverberg Scholarship and Tori Bundy received the $250 ACP Youth Wing Scholarship.

Other award recipients included Mr. Whatley for best sound in Deathtrap; Chad Squires as favorite juvenile actor in The Foreigner; Jim Anderson as favorite male newcomer; Jessie Tyson as favorite female newcomer; and Elaine Schmidt as best supporting actress in Deathtrap.

Matt Cabill won best supporting actor in a musical for his role in Little Shop of Horrors; Madison Anderson, Hannah Riley, Phoebe Taylor and Paris Wayne received best supporting actresses in musical awards for Honk.

Jennifer Cudworth Greer was named best choreographer for Honk.

Favorite chorus actor was James Riley in Honk; favorite chorus actress was Lucy-Sue Herron in Honk; best featured actor in a musical was Bob Hinds in Little Shop of Horrors; and best featured actress in a musical was Jordon Sena in Little Shop of Horrors.

Best actor in a musical went to Nick Bush for the Little Shop of Horrors; best actress in a musical went to Heather Yeh for Honk; and best actor went to Jimmie Morgan for On Golden Pond.

Catherine Stapleton-Nance won best musical director for Little Shop of Horrors, which also was named best musical.

The Youth Wing presented its own awards for its three shows.

For The Diary of Anne Frank, the youth wing named Will Royster favorite actor, Lucy-Sue Herron favorite actress; Evan Funderburk most improved and Ann Kucharski favorite crew member.

For Canterbury Tales, the youth wing named Grant Luton favorite actor, Katie Mikos favorite actress, Stephanie Leguizamon most improved and Ethan Ellis favorite crew member.

For The Frog Princess, the youth wing named Nolan Lacy favorite actor; Alex Medlin favorite actress and Mary Hadsell favorite newcomer.

Reach Charmain Z. Brackett at czbrackett@hotmail.com.