The Geekie Awards – the Importance of Recogonition
This sounds like the start of an after-school PSA, I know, but bear with me here.
In the dark and ancient days before YouTube, but after AOL (so, I dunno, 1998 or so) there started a trend of putting uncredited works onto the Internet. Â You’d see a funny video or a humorous email, or a fun parody of the Beverly Hill-Billies retelling the story of the Bobbitt family, and you’d laugh and maybe save it to your computer.
And that was it. Â You didn’t know where it came from, or who first wrote/created it, or even what you were going to do with it. Â But that wasn’t what was important right then; you found it and enjoyed it and so it was yours, in a way.
When YouTube came out, suddenly content creators were able to see exactly how many people had seen their work and interact with them. Â If you saw something, you saw it on the creator’s channel and could see their other work. Â It was also easier to track down others who had stolen your work and shame them!
But it didn’t help you actually get recognized in the broader scheme of things. Â Sure your view count went up. Â Maybe you could get some ads on your content and make some money. Â But was your work actually being recognized?
Then entered this woman.
You remember her, right?  Our awesome pal Kristen Nedopak?  She’s the gorgeous Aries who brought us The Skyrim Parodies and a few awesome interviews here on our own show.  A few years ago she had a brilliant idea after noticing how people in the geek community rarely (if ever) got the recognition they deserved.  Even in Hollywood, where creativity is celebrated with one awards show after another, the geeks simply got no love.  Seriously, a film about a crazy guy saying that heaven is actually a blimp gets an Academy Award, but the celebrated parody mash-up of Star Wars and COPS is forgotten by most.
Determined to right this terrible wrong, she has poured herself into The Geekie Awards; the “Award show for geeks, by geeks”. Â The inaugural run for the show ran last year and rather than making a few ripples in the Hollywood scene, it made people sit up and take notice with a huge wave. Â Claiming over 1 billion media impressions, it absolutely destroyed all previous records for an independent awards show. Â With her strong vision and unbelievable tenacity, she was able to get some of the coolest names in Hollywood to judge and present at an event that some wouldn’t have dared produce.
But Nedopak isn’t done with one; she’s at it again and she’s pulling out all the stops!
With the success of the first year’s show, the Geekies have found themselves with sponsors to help the show grow. Â However, as any show runner or business person will tell you, with sponsors comes even more pressure to perform better than ever before. Â If anyone is up to the challenge though, it would be Kristen Nedopak. Â In fact, with less than two weeks until the show, she’s not only up to the challenge but also up every night until some insane hours to make sure her beloved project is the very best it can be. Â Watching her feed is like watching a case study in giving everything you have to make sure your vision is fully realized.
Which, ironically, is what she wanted other people to be recognized for in the first place!
If you are in the Los Angelos area on Sunday, August 17th, you owe it to yourself to see what it means to be geek. Â Be sure to follow the link below to get your ticket now. Â And if you happen to see Kristen while you’re there, be sure to give some recognition back to her for giving so much to geeks everywhere. Â Because, strangely, there is no award category for “Kick Ass Award Show Goddess”. Â Weird, I know.
