Recipients were announced in 16 of this year's 31 media categories.
The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media "for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBT community and the issues that affect their lives," according to press notes.
Ellen DeGeneres presented Kerry Washington with GLAAD's Vanguard Award, given to media professionals "who, through their work, have increased the visibility and understanding of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community."
In her acceptance speech Washington said, "I don't decide to play the characters I play as a political choice. Yet the characters I play often do become political statements. Because having your story told as a woman, as a person of color, as a lesbian, as a trans person, or as any member of any disenfranchised community, is sadly often still a radical idea. There is so much power in storytelling, and there is enormous power in inclusive storytelling, in inclusive representations. That is why the work of GLAAD is so important. We need more LGBT representation in the media. We need more LGBT characters and more LGBT storytelling. We need more diverse LGBT representation. And by that, I mean lots of different kinds of LGBT people living all different kinds of lives. And this is big—we need more employment of LGBT people in front of and behind the camera.
"We can't say that we believe in each other's fundamental humanity, and then turn a blind eye to the reality of each other's existence, and the truth of each other's hearts. We must be allies and we must be allies in this business, because to be represented is to be humanized, and as long as anyone anywhere is being made to feel less human, our very definition of humanity is at stake, and we are all vulnerable. We must see each other, all of us. And we must see ourselves, all of us. And we have to continue to be bold and break new ground until that is just how it is, until we are no longer 'firsts' and 'exceptions' and 'rare' and 'unique.' In the real world, being an 'other' is the norm. In the real world, the only norm is uniqueness, and our media must reflect that. Thank you, GLAAD, for fighting the good fight." Winners for the night follow:
- Vanguard Award: Kerry Washington (presented by Ellen DeGeneres)
- Stephen F. Kolzak Award: Roland Emmerich (presented by Channing Tatum)
- Outstanding Film - Wide Release: The Imitation Game (The Weinstein Company) [accepted by: screenwriter Graham Moore and producer Ido Ostrowsky]
- Outstanding Drama Series: How to Get Away with Murder (ABC) [accepted by: creator Peter Nowalk with stars Viola Davis, Jack Falahee, Matt McGorry, and Aja Naomi King]
- Outstanding Comedy Series: Transparent (Amazon Instant Video) [accepted by: creator Jill Soloway, co-producer Rhys Ernst, and stars Amy Landecker, Jay Duplass, Alexandra Billings, Kiersey Clemons, Michaela Watkins, Alison Sudol, Clementine Creevy, and Brett Parasol]
- Outstanding Individual Episode (in a series without a regular LGBT character): "Identity Crisis" Drop Dead Diva (Lifetime)
- Outstanding TV Movie or Mini-Series: The Normal Heart (HBO)
- Outstanding Music Artist: Against Me!, Transgender Dysphoria Blues (Xtra Mile Recordings)
- Outstanding Comic Book : Rat Queens, written by Kurtis J. Wiebe (Image Comics)
- Outstanding Daily Drama: Days of Our Lives (NBC)
- Outstanding Digital Journalism Article: "31 Days of PrEP" [series] (Advocate.com)
- Outstanding Blog: Autostraddle (autostraddle.com)
- Outstanding Daytime Program Episode: "Cementerio homófobo" Caso Cerrado (Telemundo)
- Outstanding Television Interview: TIE: "En cuerpo ajeno" Un Nuevo Día (Telemundo) and "Intolerancia familiar" Realidades en Contexto (CNN en Español)
- Outstanding Documentary: "Identidad sin fronteras" Panorámica (Univision/Pivot)
- Outstanding Local TV Journalism: "Cobertura de Spirit Day" [serie] Noticias 34 (KMEX-Univision 34 [Los Angeles])
For more information visit www.glaad.org/mediaawards.
