The 24th Annual Genesis Awards was held a few weeks back and I was lucky enough to be able to attend. A star studded gala that is The Humane Society’s version of the Golden Globes. In fact, these awards are held in the same location! The Genesis Awards honors media, print, TV, film as well as individuals who have made strides in highlighting animal rights stories in their medium. Stars from TV and film present these awards after a lavish vegan meal, that is then followed by a swanky after party. And if you’re lucky, you get to go home with a rockin’ gift bag (I was a lucky one!)
The evening commenced with a fabulous dinner (featuring Gardein) by none other then celebrity vegan chef and friend of The Healthy Voyager, Tal Ronnen. The awards show was sweet, inspiring, entertaining and even at moments, tear jerking. I was taken with the number of news stories as well as films and TV shows that do so much to bring light to the cause.
The after party was complete with vegan sushi and decadent vegan desserts as well as attendees letting loose on the dance floor. A bunch of notable vegans chowed and boogied the night away like Rory Freedman, Ari Solomon, The Discerning Brute and the gals of VegNews & Vegetarian Times, to name a few. We all had a blast but here’s a bigger scoop!
The winners of the evening were:
- Lifetime Achievement Award – Tippi Hedren
- Feature Film – (tie) – Hotel For Dogs & UP
- Documentary Film – The Cove
- Sid Caesar Comedy Award – Family Guy “Dog Gone”
- Dramatic Series – Bones
- Children’s Programming – Nick News With Linda Elerbee “Kids to the Rescue! Helping Homeless Animals”
- TV Newsmagazine – Issues With Jane Velez-Mitchell “multiple segments”
- News Feature – KCBS / KCAL TV (Los Angeles) “Animal Shelter Abuse, Faux Fur Investigation”
- News Series – KLAS-TV 8 (Las Vegas) “I-Team: Shark Fin Soup”
- Morning News Show – Today on NBC “multiple segments” by Jill Rappaport
- Talk Show – The Ellen Degeneres Show “Eating Animals author Jonathan Safran Foer”
- TV Documentary – Death On A Factory Farm- HBO
- Reality Series – Whale Wars “The Stuff of Nightmares” Animal Planet
- TV Film – A Dog Named Christmas
- Brigitte Bardot International – Bear Sanctuary – Animal Planet Europe
- Ooutstanding Written Word- Isthmus (Wisconsin) multiple articles by Bill Lueders
- Newsmagazine – Time “The New Age of Extinction” and “The Real Cost of Cheap Food” by Bryan Walsh and Abused No More by David Von Drehle
- Magazine – O Magazine “What Are They Thinking?” by Eugene Linden, “Wild Things” by Rick Bass, and Operation Rescue by Barry Yeoman
- Brigitte Bardot International Print – The Independent (UK) “multiple articles” by Martin Hickman
A few of my favorite gift bag goodies were:
- Lucy’s cookies
- The Soi Co candles
- Tallulah Jane natural perfumes
- First Juice
- Pawsby
- Revolution Tea
- Old Mother Hubbard dog treats
The bag was jammed with great stuff (a lot of companies I already love) but these were new and exciting to me!
And of course, some of the stars in attendance were:
- Teri Hatcher
- Pierce Brosnan
- Maria Menunos
- Kristin Bell
- Ginnifer Goodwin
- Emily Deschanel
- Moby
- Jon Lovitz
- Tipi Hedren
- Melanie Griffith
- Michael Vartan
- Carrie Ann Inaba
- And more!!!
For more information on The Genesis Awards as well as the Humane Society, please visit their website. I was honored to be a part of such a wonderful event and look forward to attending again next year ; )
