VIC GERAMI NAMED FINALIST FOR LA PRESS CLUB’S NATIONAL ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALISM AWARD
By Editorial Staff
10 Questions with Vic named Finalist among Prestigious List of Writers Vying for Los Angeles Press Club’s Coveted National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Award
Just three years in syndication, Vic Gerami’s fast-growing column, 10 Questions with Vic, which interviews top celebrities, politicos and public figures as well as hot, new up-and-comers, is already competing alongside legendary writers with household names, including Variety’s Michael Schneider and Kareem Abdul Jabbar writing for The Hollywood Reporter.
The Los Angeles Press Club has announced that journalist and columnist Vic Gerami is a finalist competing for the organization’s 12th annual National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards (NAEJA). The awards recognize journalistic excellence, career achievements and contributions to society.
Finalists were announced after judges nationwide pored over more than 900 entries. Gerami is a finalist for his internationally syndicated celebrity Q&A column, ‘10 Questions with Vic,’ anchored in its home port publication, The Blunt Post and 11 news and entertainment outlets in 4 countries. Gerami’s fellow finalists include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Brett Callwood from LA Weekly, David Jerome from the Orange County Register and Michael Schneider at Variety.
A noted columnist, Gerami is also a journalist and media contributor who is also publisher and editor of The Blunt Post. Breaking out on his own and expanding his skills to include authoring a regular column and publishing his own successful news site, Gerami is quickly gaining a reputation as one of Southern California’s hardest-working media professionals.
Today reaching national international audiences, Gerami first built a foundation of knowledge and skills by learning the media industry during his years at Frontiers Magazine, followed by positions at LA Weekly and Voice Media Group. This is Gerami’s second time being selected as a finalist in the Los Angeles Press Club’s Arts and Entertainment Awards “Columnist” category, having first made the final round of consideration in 2017.
“I feel incredibly fortunate to be included in the Los Angeles Press Club’s National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards,” Gerami said. “It’s an honor that I never expected.”
The Wall Street Journal featured Gerami as a “leading gay activist” in its landmark 2008 coverage of opposition to Proposition 8, the ballot measure that for years denied same-sex couples in California the freedom to marry. In addition to his years of volunteer work as a leading advocate for marriage equality, later Gerami went on to serve as a Planning Committee member for the historic Resist March in 2017. Vic Gerami is also a founding board member of Equality Armenia.
In 2015, Gerami was referenced in the landmark Supreme Court civil rights case, Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the Court held in a 5–4 decision that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process and the Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Vic Gerami is a contributor to the Windy City Times, Montrose Star, DC Life Magazine, Out & About Nashville, Q Virginia, GNI MAG, QNotes, GoWeHo, Asbarez, California Courier, Desert Daily Guide, Armenian Weekly, GED, The Pride LA, IN Magazine, OUT Traveler, The Fight and The Advocate Magazine among others.
“I’m genuinely humbled and consider it a win just to be named a finalist among my esteemed colleagues who are also finalists,” Gerami said. “Looking at my fellow finalists, I’m completely in awe of them as a group. But I’m overwhelmed by their individual talents as writers, interviewers and all-around storytellers. To see my work even mentioned alongside these journalism and media professionals is an honor I’ll always remember.”
NAEJA SPECIAL HONOREES for 2019
Tarana Burke – Impact Award for Influential Contributions to Culture and Society
Danny Trejo – Visionary Award for Humanitarian Work
Ben Mankiewicz – Luminary Award for Career Achievement
Quentin Tarantino – Distinguished Storyteller Award for Excellence in Storytelling Outside of Journalism
Ann-Margret – Legend Award for Lifetime Achievement and Contributions to Society
The winners will be honored and awarded their trophies at the historic Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday, December 1, 2019.
ABOUT THE BLUNT POST
The Blunt Post is an independent news journalism, opinion, entertainment website with a direct and straight-forward approach.
We provide a mix of long-form articles, entertainment news, celebrity interviews and profiles. It is a platform for writers, editors, photographers and other powerful voices to express diverse viewpoints and opinions.
The site offers independent journalism, commentary and opinion on international, national and local topics from current events to entertainment, social justice to travel and LGBTQIA+
ABOUT THE NATIONAL ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALISM AWARDS
The Los Angeles Press Club’s National Entertainment Journalism Awards have become the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards Contest to better reflect the journalism industry’s natural marriage of entertainment and arts coverage.
The NAEJ contest is open to all journalists covering arts and entertainment in the US, including International journalists.
The National Entertainment Journalism Awards were founded in 2008 and recognize the finest work from U.S.-based entertainment reporters and editors and theater, film and television critics in all media – print, radio, TV and online. This includes international journalists working in a language other than English.
ABOUT LA PRESS CLUB
The Los Angeles Press Club exists to support, promote, and defend quality journalism in Southern California. Our task is to encourage journalists by involving the public in recognizing such journalism together in belief that a free press is crucial to a free society.
In addition, the Los Angeles Press Club provides a place for journalists to gather, network and learn from one another, especially through the sponsorship of events. The L.A. Press Club is the only organization in Southern California that speaks for all journalists in newspapers, magazines, radio, television and the Internet.
For more information, please visit LAPressClub.org