The Velma Awards, created this year by entertainment industry veterans to honor LGBTQ+ representation in children’s media, have just been given to the first-ever set of winners. They’re awards like no others, and showcase range, quality, creativity, and queer joy.
The Velmas were conceived and developed by three-time Emmy Award-winning children’s television screenwriter and producer Chris Nee (Doc McStuffins, Ridley Jones), Emmy Award-winning animation casting and voice director Kristi Reed (Steven Universe, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, DeadEnd: Paranormal Park), and media and entertainment executive Jeremy Blacklow (Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios). The awards are the main initiative of their new organization, the Rainbow Project, which “was born from the need to celebrate and elevate LGBTQ+ representation in Children’s Media,” per its website. They assert, “It is our mission to acknowledge the brave creators who push the boundaries of queer storytelling in order to produce positive mirroring for a new generation.”
The trio first met while Nee and Reed were on GLAAD’s Children and Families Advisory Council and Blacklow was the organization’s Director of Entertainment Media, according to The Hollywood Reporter (THR). The long-running GLAAD Media Awards cover a wide range of categories, mostly for media aimed at adults, but do recognize LGBTQ-inclusive kids’ media in three categories (one for young children, and two for older-audience family shows, live action and animated). Blacklow told THR, however, that although they support GLAAD’s awards, they sought ones that focus “exclusively on queer representation in kids programming” and that would honor the many more projects each year that deserve recognition.
The Velmas are named after “the queer-coded Velma on Scooby-Doo,” who was an early influence on all three creators, explained Blacklaw. I think it’s a clever choice of name, a reminder of pioneering characters who gave so many of us reflections of our identities even before they or we had the language to talk about them.
The creators are also doing something unusual and letting the content of the shows drive the award categories, rather than try to fit shows into pre-existing categories. “We found the content that we felt was doing brave and courageous work, and then we crafted a category for that work,” Reed explained to THR, adding, “We want to be able to award the work for its nuanced specificity.”
I think that’s a brilliant idea that many other award initiatives should note. And I love that the Velma categories themselves showcase the range and the creativity of LGBTQ-inclusive kids’ media today. They demonstrate a humorous yet respectful touch that draws attention to queer joy and gently underscores themes and representation we need more of.
This year’s winners are:
- Best Exploration of Gender Expression: Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, Season: 2, Episode: “I Am Pogey!”
- Best Queer Relationship That’s Just a Plain Ol’ Relationship: Jurassic World: Chaos Theory! Season: 2
- Best Queer Show You Wish Existed When You Were Growing Up: Heartstopper, Season: 2
- Best Episode (Period!) That Also Never Saw the Light of Day: Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Season: 2, Episode: “The Gatekeeper”
- Best Old World Show With New World Thinking: Danny Joe’s Tree House, Episode: “Olive and the Oxenfree Family Roundup”
- Best Celebration of The Complex Queer Family Tree: Firebuds, Season: 2, Episode: “Balancing Act”
- Best Wedding Before You and Your New Wife Go Fight Insurgents: The Dragon Prince: Mystery of Aaravos, Season: 6, Episode: “The Red Wedding”
- Most Impressive Indie Innovator: Queer Kid Stuff, Season: 2027 Videos
- Best Helping My Dad Propose to My Other Dad: Let’s Go Bananas, Season: 1, Episode: “The Big Pop / A Very Bananas Wedding”
- Best Guest Star Extravaganza: Monster High, Episode: “The Monster Fest” (Halloween Special)
- Best Requited Queer Crush: Primos, Season: 1, Episode: “Summer of Heart Eyes”
- Best New Nonbinary Cast Member: The Fairly Odd Parents: A New Wish, Season: 1, Episode: “The Wellsington Hotellsington”
- Best Episode for Storytime with Drag Queens: The Bravest Knight, Season: 2, Episode: “Cedric & the Three Ogres”
- Legacy Award: Steven Universe
On a personal note, I have always tried to uplift LGBTQ-inclusive kids’ media, but my focus has admittedly been more on LGBTQ-inclusive books than on video, television, or film, especially as the number of items in both areas has grown. (I need to sleep sometime!) There are a growing number of LGBTQ-inclusive books, however, that I think would translate into terrific shows, either live-action or animated, following in the footsteps of Heartstopper, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, andThe Bravest Knight, which jumped from page to screen. The past few years in particular, have seen a wave of middle-grade books with fantastical, adventurous plots that cry out for on-screen treatment. (Here’s a roundup I did a couple of years ago, but a browse through my Database of LGBTQ Family Books will turn up many others.) I can also think of several more picture books whose engaging protagonists and settings might make good seeds for television series. I hope we’ll see more creative, joyous, and affirming collaborations in this regard in the next few years, sparking even more wonderful categories for the Velmas.
Visit the Rainbow Project website for further details about the 2024 winners. Congratulations to them all, and may they inspire others to follow!
