Awards

ANNOUNCED ON MARCH 9th

The Symposium's awards recognize otherwise unheralded contributions to equity in the entertainment industry. While those honored possess impressive lists of other, more publicly appreciated accomplishments, the lesser known courageous and critical actions for which they are awarded serve as inspiration, modeling for us all what we might also contribute. Past award recipients have been honored for refusing to write alternative character demographics for producers' commercial interests, refusing to audition as a stereotype, appealing to government agencies to investigate industry discrimination, and investing their attentions and dollars only in those productions that support a more equitable world view. This year's honorees continue the tradition.

Tracy Camp

For tireless activism and community organizing to combat negative stereotyping and unequal employment opportunity in stage productions and other entertainment.

Sarah Hemings

For the many thespians who refused the role of Sally Hemings in Marin Theatre Company's 2017 production of Thomas and Sally, reviewed as a "hellish rapey nighmare" in the play's romantic depictions of Thomas Jefferson's sexual encounters with his slave Sarah "Sally" Hemings, first raped by Jefferson when she was a teenager a third his age.

Women's Media Action Coalition

Accepted on behalf of WeMAC by Christine Kunewa Walker, producer of the annual Provincetown Women's Media Summit.