Why VO Awards Are A Good Thing!
The deadline for submissions to the One Voice Awards 2023 has just passed, and for the last few days I could almost hear the panic in the air from my fellow VOs, cramming to get their entries in. It’s one of just a few events in the calendar where we all leave our booths for the weekend to join in the festivities with like-minded folk, who are the only ones that can really empathise with what a strange, and oft-times lonely, job we do.
Regardless of whether I get a nomination this year or not (last year, not a sausage), I’m here to make the argument that Voiceover Awards are great - not just for the Nominated Voiceover Artists, but for VOs everywhere and for the industry too.
“What is she going on about?” I hear you cry - hear me out.
While some Award ceremonies are now just a show of how much marketing budget you have and who’s ‘in vogue’ at the moment, most Voiceover Awards (up until now anyway) have managed to maintain a sense of integrity and fairness.
Of course, we can’t deny that any prize awarded to a creative endeavour is subjective, but this is where we need to change our viewpoint on the goal of ‘winning’.
Me and my sister at the One Voice Awards 2021, where I was nominated for 3 categories!
Last year I attended the One Voice Awards ceremony, sandwiched in the middle of the One Voice Conference, which I was attending anyway. I wasn’t nominated for any awards, but I had friends that were, and I wanted to support them. I had other reasons for attending too, which I will go into now. All of these support my argument for why we should value Award Ceremonies, rather than see them as pointless subjectivity or crude displays of vanity…
You get to see what industry experts see as the best-of-the-best work in Voiceover - the names of the judges aren’t revealed until the awards ceremony, but they are always well-respected, experienced people at the top of their game in the Voiceover industry (including producers, casting directors, voice directors, coaches, and voiceover artists themselves), so they are more than qualified to judge what is a good vocal performance in a range of genres
You can see emerging trends in the industry that you can then adopt - Be the first to see where the industry is heading. Perhaps it’s a particular accent or a performance style that becomes more popular. If it works for you to adopt and test in your work, then it could be something that could help book you more jobs
You can chat to nominees and winners to find out more about their experience and journey - It’s humbling to discover that even experienced award-winning Voiceovers have wobbles or quiet times
Who needs an excuse for a good knees-up? It’s a great opportunity to party with fellow Voiceovers, Producers and Casting Directors, among others. Turning up to a party when you don’t know anyone is pretty daunting. But I did it in 2021 at my first One Voice Conference and I can now say that many of the people I’d looked up to, admired, and was pretty intimidated by, I now call my friends. Which is a testament to how lovely, inclusive and friendly the Voiceover community are
What do you think? Does being nominated/ winning or not affect your view of Awards? Let me know in the comments, and hope to see some of you at the One Voice Awards this year!
