GLAAD, the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization, has announced the nominees for the 30th Annual GLAAD Media Awards live from the Sundance Film Festival.
The 30th Annual GLAAD Media Awards are presented by Delta Air Lines, Gilead, and Ketel One Family-Made Vodka.
The GLAAD Media Awards honor media for fair, accurate, and inclusive representations of LGBTQ people and issues. MJ Rodriguez (Pose) and Nico Santos (Crazy Rich Asians, NBC’s Superstore) announced the nominees via live-stream on GLAAD’s Facebook page hosted by AT&T from Park City, Utah during the Sundance Film Festival.
GLAAD announced 151 nominees in 27 categories, including an inaugural category for Outstanding Video Game, along with Kids & Family Programming, Comedy and Drama Series, Documentary, Reality Series, Music Artist, Comic Book, print, broadcast, and online news, and five Spanish-language categories. For the first time ever, the GLAAD Media Awards’ Outstanding Film – Limited Release category expanded from five to ten nominees as a result of a welcome increase in fair, accurate, and inclusive LGBTQ images in film.
The 30th Annual GLAAD Media Awards nominees were published, released, or broadcast between January 1 and December 31, 2018. The GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies, which fund GLAAD’s work to accelerate LGBTQ acceptance, will be held in Los Angeles on Thursday, March 28 at The Beverly Hilton, and in New York on Saturday, May 4 at the Hilton Midtown.
“The images and stories recognized by the GLAAD Media Awards over the past 30 years raised the bar for LGBTQ inclusion in the media industry and changed the hearts and minds of countless audience members around the world,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD President and CEO. “This year’s nominees are changing the game by showcasing diverse races, genders, religions, ages, geographies, and genres in ways that challenge misconceptions and inspire LGBTQ acceptance. The 30th anniversary of the GLAAD Media Awards will honor these groundbreaking new LGBTQ stories while remembering the astounding positive cultural change that LGBTQ media representations have achieved.”
Among the nominees: The Favourite, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Boy Erased, Love Simon, and Crazy Rich Asians; ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, Modern Family, Fresh Off the Boat, American Idol, The Good Doctor, and Nightline; NBC’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Superstore, Will & Grace, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and NBC Nightly News; Netflix’s Dear White People, One Day at a Time, Fuller House, Sense8, Anne with an E, She-Ra, Queer Eye, Nanette, and Élite; CBS’ Instinct, CBS Sunday Morning, CBS News, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert; The CW’s Black Lightning, Supergirl, and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend; FX’s Pose, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story and American Horror Story: Apocalypse; Starz’ Vida; HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas, Vice News Tonight, and Believer, a documentary featuring Imagine Dragons' Dan Reynolds work to increase LGBTQ inclusion in the Mormon Church; Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale; 2019 Grammy nominees Janelle Monae, Brandi Carlile, and Sophie; VH1’s RuPaul’s Drag Race and the first nomination for VH1’s Love & Hip Hop: New York; CNN New Day’s interview with Olympian Adam Rippon and CNN Tonight with Don Lemon’s feature story on the Masterpiece Cake Supreme Court ruling; a CNBC.com story that sparked companies to speak out against the proposed rollback of marriage equality in Bermuda, and a Yahoo! profile of Cuban-American bisexual gun reform advocate Emma González. Univision earned seven nominations in GLAAD’s Spanish-language media categories. Telemundo earned four nominations and CNN en Español earned one.
For the first time this year, GLAAD will honor LGBTQ-inclusive content in video games as part of GLAAD’s work to increase LGBTQ stories in the industry and leverage the gaming community to grow LGBTQ acceptance. The inaugural round of nominees includes Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey (Ubisoft), The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset (Bethesda Softworks), Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire (ArenaNet), Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (Versus Evil), and The Sims Mobile (Electronic Arts).
“GLAAD has always leveraged diverse forms of media to share LGBTQ stories which change hearts and minds, and as the video game industry reaches new heights of popularity and influence, it is imperative that LGBTQ people and issues are included in fair and accurate ways,” Ellis continued.
GLAAD announced Special Recognition Awards for Nanette, a Netflix special starring queer comedian Hannah Gadsby; TransMilitary, a documentary which premiered on Logo and spotlighted the lives of transgender service members; and House of Mamis, a Spanish-language docuseries about a LGBTQ voguing community in Mexico City which ran on LGBTQ site INTOMore.com.
Special Honorees for the 30th Annual GLAAD Media Awards will be announced in coming weeks. At the 29th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, GLAAD honored Ava DuVernay with the Excellence in Media Award, Samira Wiley with the Vito Russo Award, and Ms. Gloria Carter with a special recognition award during its New York City ceremony. Britney Spears received the Vanguard Award and Jim Parsons received the Stephen F. Kolzak Award in Los Angeles. Wanda Sykes and Ross Mathews served as hosts for the Los Angeles and New York events, respectively. The 29th Annual GLAAD Media Awards Los Angeles event was broadcast on Logo.
The 30th Annual GLAAD Media Awards corporate partners include Presenting Partners Delta Air Lines, Gilead, and Ketel One Family-Made Vodka. GLAAD is also grateful to: Official Partner Bud Light; Platinum Partners Disney ABC Television Group, Hulu, MetLife, Omnicom Group, Turner; and Gold Partner Nielsen. For a full list of corporate partners and information on how to become a corporate partner, purchase tickets, and place a tribute in the tribute book, please visit www.glaad.org/mediaawards.
