Distinguished Service Award to Randy Shulman
Presented by former GLAA President Bob Summersgill
GLAA 35th Anniversary ReceptionWashington Plaza Hotel
Thursday, April 20, 2006
It is gratifying to be able to present an award to an old friend. I met Randy Shulman more than 20 years ago. He was dating my boss. Back then, Randy had a cable access movie review show called “Watta You Want, Entertainment?”
Randy had a brief film making career that started and ended badly with the film “Dead Bunnies,” made with marshmallow peeps. Seeing where that career would take him, he became a film critic. He has been a reviewer for the Hill Rag, and the InTowner; and for 22 years has served as the film critic for The Times Community Newspapers of Virginia. Randy’s reviews are uncanny. If he likes it, I hate it, and vice versa. Of course, only one of us gets paid for our reviews.
In 1993, Randy started working for a new local gay publication called Michael’s Arts and Entertainment Weekly. It was a glossy magazine with beefcake shots on the cover. It quickly ran out of money, and the owner decided to go out of business.
Randy got the staff together and launched Metro Arts and Entertainment Weekly. Twelve years and over 600 issues later, with three major redesigns, and two minor name changes, they are still in business. The beefcake moved off the cover and into the back, and the community coverage expanded.
The magazine has added several columnists and a public affairs forum to its community event calendars, nightlife guides, and coverage of the District’s arts and entertainment scene. The annual review of movies for Reel Affirmations is the definitive guide to the film fest. The in-depth interviews with prominent local and national figures in the gay community are must-read articles.
Early issues were often silly. The all-marshmallow-peep issue still has me in sugar shock. But I miss the April fools issues and the Hearsay faux-gossip column that once revealed that my nipples leak.
Profiles of community groups have showcased countless organizations and brought to light some of the fun but overlooked groups in town. The photo spreads of all major and many minor events have made Metro Weekly the place to see your friends without their shirts on, or me in a suit.
Although they shied away from hard news in the early days, they now have some of the best reporting on local gay issues and unquestionably the best coverage of GLAA. Randy has also published the Capital Pride Guide for seven years, and last year began publishing the Black Pride Guide.
As the magazine's primary editor and writer in the early years, Randy won an astounding 27 Vice Versa Awards for excellence in gay and lesbian journalism, and he is listed on their website as the individual who has won the most awards. He has also been honored for his dedication and service to the gay community by the Capital Pride Festival, the Youth Pride Alliance, the D.C. Eagle and Brother Help Thyself.
It is now my honor as a friend and past president of the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance to present our Distinguished Service Award to Randy Shulman.
