Rochester, New York – MSM Productions, Ltd., an independent multimedia company, is pleased to announce the launching of the Deaf Life Honors awards program. This is the first independent awards program honoring Deaf Community achievers in a variety of fields and endeavors: leadership, community activism, teaching, ASL studies, the arts, and science, with an award for Deaf women.
Some honorees will be chosen by the Blue Ribbon Committee, made up of distinguished Deaf advocates who are active in their careers. Other awards will be voted by DEAF LIFE Honors members. So some DLH honorees will be chosen by the committee; others by popular vote.
Why the DLH? Various communities and constituent groups— LGBTQIA, BIPOC, women, theater, Hollywood, the publishing industry—have their own award programs. In the Deaf community, we have local awards, honors conferred by colleges and organizations, but these are largely restricted to alumni and organizational members–i.e., those who have close political ties with the institutions bestowing the awards. We wish to establish an honors program that is free of this pervasive political bias.
The Deaf Life Honors will be given out at an annual awards ceremony. The award statue is a full-length bronze, 13” tall with a marble base, depicting George W. Veditz, standing and signing honor. His head is lifted and gaze fastens upwards as he signs, as though he’s honoring someone above.
Other awards will consist of bronze portrait busts of Deaf achievers on marble bases.
Our criteria are: outstanding contributions to the Deaf community in a variety of fields:
- media
- education
- leadership and advocacy
- the arts
- science and technology
Awards will be given for these categories:
THE DLH LEGACY AWARDS
- Laurent Clerc Award for Deaf Teacher of the Year
- Laura C. Redden Award for Deaf Literary Achievement
- Gertrude Scott Galloway Award for Deaf Woman of the Year
- William “Dummy” Hoy Award for Best Sportsmanship
- Frank Turk Award for Deaf Youth Advocacy
- Nathie L. Marbury Award for Outstanding Deaf Person of Color
- Frederick C. Schreiber Award for Deaf Leadership
- Linda Levitan Award for Best Ally of the Deaf Community
- William C. Stokoe Award for outstanding sign-language linguistics research
- Lifetime Achievement Award honoring a veteran Deaf achiever in any field
THE VEDITZ HONORS AWARDS
- Deaf Exemplar/Mentor: A teacher, counselor, literacy tutor, coach, etc.,
- Actress/Actor of the Year
- Short Film
- Feature-Length Film
- Best News/Media
- Best Viral Video
- Best Vlog
- Visual Arts
- Advocacy
- Best Business
- Best Entrepreneur
- Interpreter of the Year
- Newsmaker of the Year
- Foreign Achievement
DLH has set up a dedicated Website (www.deaflifehonors.com) and Facebook page (www.fb.com/deaflifehonors). A prospectus, including detailed description of criteria and nomination form, is in preparation.
For more information, please contact Melvin Patterson at 510-274- 2302, email: pr@deaflifehonors.com or visit Deaf Life Honors website at www.deaflifehonors.com.