The Ulster Drama Festival came to a close at the weekend, bringing to a close six days of top-quality drama in Armagh.

Across six productions, amateur theatre groups amused, engaged, unsettled, shocked and provoked audiences.

The winners have been decided but, using far less scientific criteria than adjudicator Marie O'Sullivan, below are my picks in each of the award categories.

And yes, even though I can't argue with the final winners, I'll admit I'm being deliberately different in some cases

Most Ambitious Choice of Play: It's seen as a bit of a poison chalice this, because the award seems to suggest the winning production didn't quite live up to the quality of the script.
But taking a brutal play about rape on to the amateur drama circuit is a move that deserves recognition, especially when any flaws in the production will be seen as denigrating this most serious of subjects.
The Bradan Player's production of Extremities was a blistering work of emotional honesty that few groups would dare tackle, let alone produce with such talent and flair.

Actual winner: Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Dundalk Theatre Workshop.

Best Moment of Theatre: There were so many to choose from, and most will linger long in the memory. However, the moonlit scene at the beginning of Act II of Making History by the Newpoint Players combined an arresting set with intense acting as Earl of Tyrone Hugh O'Neill's world unravelled.
This was more about mood than anything else, and that mood was captured perfectly.

Actual winner: The Bart Players - for the fire scene in The Big House

Best Decor: It really is hard to quantify the amount of effort that amateur theatre groups put into their sets at this level.
And, because the shows are on for a single performance, they have to assemble and dismantle their creations in a day.
There was plenty to praise this week, but the Dundalk Theatre Workshop went as far as bringing their own faux-marble floor for their production of Les Laisons Dangereuses.
That deserves an award I reckon.

Actual winner: The Bart Players

Most Promising Young Player: As the adjudicator said, there was lots of competition for this award across the productions.
My pick would have to be Charles Sung from The Clarence Players as Randolph in Shoot The Crow.
As a four-hander, a less accomplished performance would have got lost in the midst of three very polished other players - and perhaps dragged the play down.
But Charles held his own as an integral, and memorable, part of this hilarious production.

Actual winner: Paul McParland (Newpoint Players)

Best Supporting Actress: In many ways, taking on the role of a ghost in a Noel Coward comedy has the kiss of death written all over it.
Humour, and mixed metaphor, intended.
But Sharon Gormley's Elvira in Omagh Players's Blithe Spirit brought the right amount of nonchalance to a part which could easily have been ridiculous, and not in a good way.

Actual winner: Deirdre Rice (Dundalk Theatre Workshop)

Best Supporting Actor: Ed Flanagan's Capt Despart in The Big House was an amiable character who turned into a drunken stereotype and that's what makes his performance so appealing.
Creating a sense of reality around such a role, which could easily have descended into cliche, must have been difficult.
But the fact that he gave the audience a much more rounded character than the one on the page is award-worthy in my book.

Actual winner: Paul McParland (Newpoint Players)

Best Actress: As the victim-turned-aggressor Marjorie in Extremities, Jenny Ni Lucas took on a part that was difficult to watch at times, so it's hard to imagine how challenging they were to play.
And yet she approached the role with fearless gusto and the kind of immersion that makes you realise acting requires not only great effort but great talent as well.
She was the narrow victor over Anie Corcoran in Les Liaisons Dangereuses and the eventual winner.

Actual winner: Lynne Taylor (The Bart Players)

Best Actor: As was the case with the best actress, there were quite a few performances which would find an appreciative audience in professional theatre and, again, it's a tough category.
But I have to go for Paul Cummings as Socrates in Shoot The Crow because, as I said to him afterwards, I didn't think he was acting.
That's how convincing his performance was.

Actual winner: Ray Hastie (The Clarence Players)

Best Production runner up: The six plays involved in the festival could hardly have been more different, something that makes choosing an overall winner - from my point of view at least - a matter of taste.
Away from the strict criteria of the adjudication guidelines, I can opt for the two plays which moved me the most. In close second, it would be Les Liaison Dangereuses by Dundalk Theatre Workshop for a production which combined spectacle with a fabulous set and great acting.

Actual winner: Shoot The Crow by the Clarence Players

Best Production: Given what I've said above, the play that I thought was the best production wasn't necessarily the best acted, or the one with the best set and the source material was questionable at times.
But Extremities by Bradan Players was a raw, emotive piece of theatre that stretched the sensibilities in a brutal fashion as it depicted a sexual assault and then a moral quandary.
On paper, it sounds like a thinly-veiled lecture but on the stage it was an arresting piece of theatre filled with scenes that were both horrifying and compelling.

Actual winner: The Big House by The Bart Players