Judges

Joyce Kulhawik

On stage, on screen, or in the concert hall, arts and entertainment critic Joyce Kulhawik’s well-considered opinion spells success or failure for those hoping to capture Boston television viewers and their leisure dollars.

A fixture with Beantown audiences from her long-time association with WBZ-TV, Joyce broadened her viewer base reviewing movies on nationally syndicated programs “Hot Ticket,” co-hosting with Leonard Maltin, and “Roger Ebert & The Movies,” where Joyce served as a rotating guest co-host.

Joyce doesn’t just talk the talk: a professional vocalist and accomplished pianist, rumor has it she can yodel, and yodel well. And it’s not about the money: for seven years, during Joyce’s residence in Connecticut, she was the soloist and organist at her parish church.

The cascade of accolades that Joyce has earned include Emmys while hosting award-winning series, specials, and programs on WBZ-TV; induction into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame, the Boston/New England Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Silver Circle, and the Boston Society of Film Critics; the Boston Theatre District Award and the Lyric Stage Company’s Arts Support Award; the New England Women’s Leadership Awards’ Community Spirit Award; an Honorary Doctorate in Communications from her alma mater, Simmons College; and the establishment, in Joyce’s name, of a $25,000 perpetual scholarship at Berklee College of Music.

And Joyce is a fighter. She stands up for grass-roots arts, ensuring that lesser-known and even-lesser-funded arts organizations get television exposure, giving her attention not just to Hollywood and Broadway fare. She even stands up to cancer: as a three-time survivor of ovarian cancer, Joyce has testified before Congress on behalf of cancer victims and has served for 25 years as Honorary Chairperson for the American Cancer Society’s Daffodil Days.

When not championing the arts, Joyce resides near Boston with her husband and daughter.