Source: Reuters, Hollywood Reporter, Advocate, Playbill
NEW YORK -- Rufus Wainwright, MTV Networks president Brian Graden and the CBS soap opera "As The World Turns" were among the big winners Monday at the 19th annual Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards (GLAAD).
Television journalist Barbara Walters was honored for her reporting on transgender children and she said the award was among the most important she had even received.
"You can forget all the Emmys," Walters said in accepting the award for television newsmagazine journalism at the ceremony in Manhattan. "This means more to me."
The veteran television personality won for the story "My Secret Self: A Story of Transgender Children," which aired on ABC's "20/20" and examined the lives and struggles of young children who experienced conflicted gender identity, feeling their true sex was the opposite of their physical one.
A segment from CBS' "60 Minutes" ("Don't Ask Don't Tell") tied with Walters' "20/20" segment for outstanding TV newsmagazine journalism. The award for outstanding TV journalism news segment went to CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" for "The First Casualty."
Strand Releasing's Middle East political romance "The Bubble" and Paramount's fantasy "Stardust" (featuring Robert De Niro as a gay pirate) took home outstanding film awards, as did First Run's documentary "For the Bible Tells Me So."
"Turns" won the award for outstanding daily drama. The show includes a gay romantic story line.
Twenty-six of GLAAD's 40 awards were presented Monday at New York's Marriott Marquis. The awards honor "fair, accurate and inclusive" representations of gay individuals in the media. The annual awards pay tribute to the best in journalism, film, TV and theatre.
The awards were hosted by British talk show host Graham Norton, with guest presenters including Mariska Hargitay, Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson award-winning actor Alan Cumming.
Additional award ceremonies will be held in South Florida on April 12 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Los Angeles on April 26 at the Kodak Theatre, and in San Francisco on May 10 at the San Francisco Marriott.
GLAAD also announced Monday that Bravo will broadcast the Media Awards later this year, making it the first time the event will air on a widely distributed cable network.
“Bravo has an already proud record of featuring groundbreaking gay and lesbian programming, and the broadcast of the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards on Bravo will be historic not just for GLAAD but for the entire lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement for equality," GLAAD president Neil G. Giuliano said in a press release.
Judy Shepard won the top Excellence in Media Award for her efforts to stop anti-gay violence after the death of her son Matthew Shepard. Graden took home the Vito Russo Award for his networks' inclusion of gays in programming, and cable network BET J won special recognition for the same.
ABC's "Boston Legal" won the nod for outstanding individual episode (in a series without a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered character in its regular cast) for "Do Tell."
The Beebo Brinker Chronicles by Kate Moira Ryan and Linda S. Chapman won the award for best New York theater production on Broadway. BASH'd: A Gay Rap Opera by Chris Craddock and Nathan Cuckow with music by Aaron Macri took home the award for Off Off Broadway works.
Wainwright was named outstanding music artist for his "Release the Stars" album. Terry Moore's "Strangers in Paradise" took the honors as outstanding comic book.
GLAAD was founded more than 20 years ago to foster positive images of the lives of gay people in the wake of sensational media reporting on AIDS and other topics.
Full article: Wainwright among honorees at GLAAD Awards | Hollywood Reporter (Reuters)
Bravo to Air GLAAD Awards | Advocate.com
Barbara Walters, Israeli film get gay media awards | Reuters
Beebo and Bash'd Win GLAAD Media Awards | Playbill