Awards Season Reflections

Maybe Moira Rose was on to something when she said her favourite season was awards.

(Rest in peace to the incredible, incredible Catherine O'Hara, who won a posthumous Actor Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for her work in "The Studio").

Schitt's Creek Season 5, Ep. 8

There's something so nice about the cast & crew of your favourite TV shows and films getting together again to celebrate what they created (and the glam is always a welcome bonus!). I find it especially beautiful seeing people in an industry that tries to force them into competition celebrate and encourage each other instead, like their art is born out of true love (just look at this video from the NAACP awards! 😭).

Akinola Davies Jr., Wale Davies, Rachel Dargavel, and Funmbi Ogunbanwo accept the BAFTA for Outstanding Debut by a British writer for My Father's Shadow. Photo: GETTY images.

I've been particularly interested and moved by the speeches of this season's award winners. It might be because of where I am currently in my life, but they have been preaching to me - the importance of community as stressed by Colman Domingo (by the way, shout out to the American Black Film Festival. A lot of the speeches I watched were from their awards gala, and it seems they are really intentional about watering seeds/early plants and making them fruitful - take this Sinners/Ryan Coogler tribute for example); the value of not giving up as told by EJAE; the reminder that personal lived experiences can resound around the world when shared (Akinola Davies Jr. encourages archiving in his *unedited* speech); the otherworldly significance of storytelling ("anointed," Delroy Lindo calls the Sinners movie), including its role in shaping the mind (Tabitha Brown is grateful that parents trust her to do this for their kids); and the near exhortations from two of the greatest, Angela Basset and Viola Davis.

My deep dive into the awards show speeches led me to an interview Sterling K. Brown did with comedian/MC/producer, KevOnStage, about his career journey - which was a blessing to listen to, and corresponded perfectly with Viola Davis' speech for me. (The interview is worth all 53 minutes and 54 seconds, trust me!)

Sterling K. Brown accepts the NAACP award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for his work in "Paradise." Photo: GETTY images.

Recently, I've been a funk that I keep coming out of and going right back into, wondering why my life isn't going the way I think it should, if I'm making enough impact, if I am enough, and frankly, if I can make it work in this system that seems like it has us set up to fail.

Yet, if there's something I learned from hearing Mr. Brown and Ms. Davis speak, it's the importance - dare I say - the power of complete trust. Trust in God, in the process, in yourself, in the fact that you don't have to go out of your way to search for your worth, you just have to be it. No one else can decide how your life goes, and in my reflecting about the system, it has been important for me to remember that.

Viola Davis receives the NAACP Chairman's Award. Photo: AP Photo/Chris Pizzello

I understand that I'm sitting here taking advice from people who have a level of privilege I do not, but I also appreciate what they have chosen to say when given the chance to speak to the world directly. Not in a 'do this and you'll get to this stage like me one day' way (although, if your goal is the Oscars, what's stopping you?), but in a way that reminds me, and us, that all the dreaming, hard work, careful thought, perseverance and trust should go into what we do. Whatever that is.

I am reminded that in a world that seems designed to break us down and have us give up on ourselves, giving in is how we let evil, injustice, and greed win. So, I hope this encourages you too to get back up if you're down.

The world needs what's in you.

The cast of Sinners accept the Actor award for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture. Photo: AP Photo/Chris Pizzello