I was thrilled to see Antoine Winfield, Jr. of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers named as a First Team AP All-Pro, not to mention his teammate, Mike Evans, get chosen Second Team AP All-Pro at the end of last week. They each had a memorable 2023 NFL season.
Meanwhile, in the entertainment world, one week after the Golden Globes took place in Los Angeles, the Critics Choice Awards were held last night in Santa Monica, California. And tonight, in Los Angeles, the 2024 Emmy Awards will be held. Wow.
Still not enough for you?
Three weeks from today the music world will be talking about the 66th annual GRAMMY Awards that will have taken place the night before at the arena in Los Angeles where the Kings, Lakers, and Clippers play.
Next week I’ll be in Orlando for the ten-year anniversary edition of Podfest Multimedia Expo. I will be a speaker there and one of the tips I’ll be giving the audience relative to promoting their podcasts is to seek awards opportunities. As evidenced by the above, there are lots (and lots) of awards ceremonies around these days. Granted, they can’t all be as high-profile as the Golden Globes or the Emmys or the GRAMMYs (or the Oscars, whose next ceremony is March 10, or the Tony Awards, which will be handed out in June).
Awards are nice to win, I always tell audiences when I include that in the speaking I’m doing, but don’t sell yourself short if you don’t win.
When I look at potential guests for my weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast, if I see that they are or were a nominee, that gets my attention. In fact, the interview that I did for what would be Episode 503 last October 4th became even more meaningful when singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and recording artist Carla Patullo talked about her album being up for GRAMMY consideration for Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album, and since then it has, in fact, gotten the nomination!
“It’s been a minute” as the kids like to say these days, but just over two years ago I interviewed singer, songwriter, guitar and piano player Ricky Duran, who was the runner-up on Season 17 of “The Voice.”
The point here is, you absolutely want to put these accomplishments down on your performance bio, your EPK, whatever it is that you’re writing that will show what you’ve accomplished and could just tip the scales towards someone giving you an opportunity.
If someone wins a Josie Award or an International Singer Songwriters Association award or is honored with a Hollywood Music in Media Award, that makes it possible for them to be introduced on a show like NHTE, for example, as “An award-winning performer,” which, I think you would agree, is a nice way to be brought onto an interview.
If this all sounds nice but a bit lofty, start locally. Look for Best Of awards that are probably put on in your city and see how you can get nominated – either by putting yourself forward or asking your family, friends, fans, and followers to do so.
Who knows, maybe someday you’ll be on the red carpet in Los Angeles!
Do you have questions about awards, or about something that’s challenging you in your music or creator career? For 20 years I’ve been helping indie music artists, authors, entrepreneurs, actors and filmmakers, small business owners, and podcasters from around the U.S. Let’s have a ten-minute call so you can draw upon all my experience so as to benefit whatever it is that you are doing.