Many know that the awards ceremony for Spectrum 27: The Best in Contemporary Fantasy Art was supposed to take place in Kansas City March 20 during Planet Comicon, but COVID-19 turned everything topsy-turvy and everything was cancelled or postponed or shutdown as the world began battling the pandemic. With shelter-in-place and social-distancing the rule for, well, maybe the next month (at least), it seemed that the awards and honoring the nominees and recipients was going to sadly be limited to a press release and some notices on social media.
“Not so fast!” said Lauren Panepinto, Marc Scheff, and Dan dos Santos. “We’ve got the know-how! We’ve got a trunk full of costumes! We’ve got a virtual barn out back: let’s put on a show!” Faster than a jackrabbit on a date, this trio of superheroes coordinated with John Fleskes and Kathy Chu at Flesk Publications, wrangled a star-studded group of presenters, melted down my phone with a jillion texts, and in short-order organized a virtual awards ceremony. Jointly sponsored by Drawn & Drafted, Muddy Colors, Flesk Publications, and SFAL, the gala will be hosted by Lauren (who promises a multitude of surprises as the ceremony progresses) and will feature such luminaries as Cynthia Sheppard, Scott Gustafson, Karla Ortiz, George Pratt, Yuko Shimizu, Iain McCaig, and more! (I had to insert the exclamation point there.) You can bet this is going to be a wonderful evening that will give us a much-needed break from the CoronaVirus Blues.
And you’re all invited!
Since its inception 27 years ago, Spectrum‘s credo has always been to respect the past, celebrate the present, and to embrace the future. Please plan to join us at
www.crowdcast.io/drawnanddrafted
Saturday, April 4th at 8pm to toast our community and the Fantastic Arts. It’s absolutely free and it will absolutely be fun. And to remind everyone who this year’s awards finalists are, visit the Spectrum website to view all of the nominees.
If you want to stay up to date on the event, and receive a reminder before it goes live, simply click here and signup for the mailing list: https://mailchi.mp/drawnanddrafted.com/spectrum27awards
Thanks to Lauren, Marc, and Dan for making this possible! Please feel free to grab the announcement graphic, share, and spread the word. And we definitely hope everyone will join us April 4th!
Will the time change based on time zones? I would love to watch this, now that my schedule’s become very open lately.
I think it should be: 8pm eastern, 7pm central, 6pm mountain, and 5pm pacific. Everyplace else can check this website to see what time it’ll be in their part of the world: https://www.thetimezoneconverter.com
Arnie is right, AND it will be recorded and available to watch immediately after the show ends.
Hello Arnie,
Thank you very much, I’ve wanted to follow this for a couple of years and am planning to come to spectrum in the future. However, being across the atlantic is a little obstacle. Anyway, I am sure with Dan, Marc and especially Lauren, it will be fantastic, and I’ll make sure to tune in.
Thanks again.
Christof
We had tried streaming the ceremony last year from the Folly Theater through a local company but it didn’t turn out too well. This time with Lauren, Marc, and Dan in the driver’s seat I think we’re all in for a good time. Hope you enjoy it—and hope to see you in person at a future gathering!
<3 thanks, we're trying!
This looks like such fun, and I look forward to tuning in. Thanks for putting this on and making it available.
Oh man this is brilliant. Thanks so much yall! It’s wonderfully encouraging to see burst of creativity like this. Look forward to watching!
Fingers crossed we pull it off properly!
This is gonna be legendary ! I’m one of the nominees and even without the Cover-19 madness it wouldn’t have been possible to be at the ceremony in Kansas City, so THANK YOU for doing this !!!
Way to go! I’m seeing a lot of creativity and ingenuity come out of all this.