The NYPF Awards Fiasco

I feel the necessity to report this, and while I didn't witness it, the account comes to me from a very well respected source.

"The ceremony began, not at 8:30 as advertised, but about an hour later, due to 'technical difficulties'(not that any announcement was given out over the PA system to the bewildered crowd in the bar waiting to go in....we found out by asking one of the NYphoto stewards!).

When we did get in to the auditorium, a good hour + later, the sequencing was all out of whack for the categories--some of the 'general editorial' images were 'mistakenly' headed as 'fine-art'; you couldn't hear (or even understand in some cases what the 'special guests' who were handing out the awards were saying, and they were totally thrown by what they had written down opposed to what was being shown on the screen at the time!), some winning images from each category were up on the screen before they were even announced ('and the winner is...')!?!"

According to my source, this was when the crowd began heckling and walking out, and then the screen went blank, and nominees and winners never saw their work shown. So, for $10 what you got, was what my source called, "a colossal goat f**K!!!!"

I can remember hearing something similar about the awards presentation last year, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Instead I feel terrible for the winners and nominees who had their night ruined by incompetence.

To be fair, here's the official statement from the festival organziers:

"NOTE – Due to an unfortunate technical malfunction on our part, and despite all of our best efforts, we were unable to properly complete the New York Photo Awards Ceremony last night. The festival organizers sincerely apologize to all of the attendees, to the St. Ann’s Warehouse staff, and to Marc Garanger (the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award). The official slideshow will be posted later today, and will be playing in St. Ann’s Warehouse lobby starting at 6pm, as part of our Night of Images."