E! founder and tech entrepreneur launch an NFT awards show

Although we’re deep into the 2022/2023 awards season, that is not stopping the creation of new awards. Now, E! Entertainment Television founder Larry Namer and The Academy of Digital Art, Sciences, & Culture (ADASC) founding member Chris J. Snook have joined forces to revolutionize the awards show concept with the foundation of the NFTY Annual Awards (NFTYS).

The pre-eminent Web3 innovation awards gala, the NFTYS is the first ever live global broadcast show of its kind recognizing the cultural innovators who are redefining fashion, art, music, entertainment, and technology across the Metaverse.

The inaugural, star-studded NFTYS, to be co-executive produced by Namer and Snook, will be held inside The NIKO Theatre at Worre Studios in Las Vegas, Nevada at 8 p.m. EST on June 14, 2023. The show will be directed by Emmy and Tony-nominated director/producer/writer Ben DeJesus, who co-founded NGL Studios with John Leguizamo. Celebrity hosts, presenters and performers will be announced soon. 

The NFTYS broadcast will be simultaneously translated with zero latency in dozens of countries and leverage the state-of-the-art technical capabilities of the NIKO Theatre at Worre Studios to wrap every ticket in a commemorative NFT version that unlocks a variety of in-studio and virtual utility, engagement, and gifting opportunities.

“I think it has become abundantly clear that the old ways of recognizing achievements via awards ceremonies no longer captivate the audience. Not only have most of them proved to be boring and tedious, but they also don’t incorporate the latest in presentation technologies,” comments Namer.

“We’re trying to make awards and recognition of talent and creativity more relevant to today’s audiences by bringing in the technological advances that can make the entire presentation more immersive. The NFTYS will be a game-changer and forever put the Awards show format out of its 20th Century misery and elevate viewer and fan engagement and reward the communities of nominees in unparalleled ways,” adds Snook.

The NFTY Awards shortlist of nominees and final winners are governed by The Academy of Digital Art, Sciences, & Culture (ADASC) -a Diversified Decentralized Autonomous Organization (dDAO) Membership. 

However, anyone in the public can nominate a project for consideration during the month of February through April 15th,  2023. ADASC members will participate in the organization’s decision-making processes and earn rewards for their contributions to the community. The NFTYS production company will designate 50% of the show’s profits back to ADASC and the community to create a sustainable pool of funds that can be designated for grants across the web3 ecosystem of early-stage creatives, technologists, and rising stars.

“With this model, a lesser known candidate doing excellent work in the space can be nominated alongside the likes of a Starbucks, Steve Aoki, or a Gary Vee, and compete on a level playing field in their respective categories,” notes Snook.

“Most awards shows try to present themselves as being diverse and inclusive but they often think that the solutions to past problems are cured by blatant and overt attempts to show themselves as now being what they should have been in the first place,” adds Namer. “The academy organizations behind current award shows need an overhaul to truly be diverse and inclusive, and not just keep shouting from the rooftops that they are. Today’s audiences are far too smart for that.”

The NFTY is a physical trophy award that has a digital twin NFTY that will be minted in real time on the XRPLedger this year when issued to the winners, with awardee metadata permanently stored on the Arweave protocol creating an immutable record for the next 200 years of the show’s history and provenance.

The show will feature awards in categories such as:

•  Artistic Excellence

• Technical Innovation

• Cross-Collaborative I.P. Drops

• Social Good, Most Impactful Community

• AI/VR/AR Integration Excellence

More categories are said to be added as well. Nominations are now open at www.nftys.org. The most coveted award “The Nakamoto NFTY” for Innovator of the Year, will honor the legacy of Satoshi Nakamoto who gave the innovation of Bitcoin and its underlying blockchain to the world in 2009. This award will be the pinnacle of achievement for use cases that advance the distributed ledger, open source, and tokenization in enabling Web3 to reach its full decentralized potential. The Academy will recognize the individuals or organizations that have made significant contributions to the field of blockchain, crypto, web3, metaverse, mixed reality technology, and new economic incentive models.eatures an engraved representation of their seminal research paper and patent from 1997 on the first every mention of the term NFT.