Last Thursday night’s New York benefit event, Headlines & Headliners, was a special night with the 20th anniversary of the event and so much more. Headlines & Headliners 2015 drew a crowd who support NLGJA’s mission to the Prince George Ballroom and we’d like to thank the many members and friends of NLGJA who attended and boosted our programs and scholarships.
Many, many thanks to the evening’s host Meredith Vieira, host of the Meredith Vieira Show.
“The transgender community continues to make strides to gain greater acceptance with more portrayals in the mainstream media. This past year we saw Laverne Cox make history as the first transgender person to grace the cover of Time magazine, the series “Transparent” on Amazon won two Golden Globes and next week Bruce Jenner breaks his silence in an interview with Diane Sawyer about what many expect to be an open conversation about his transitioning…It is because of organizations like NLGJA that push for fair and accurate coverage of the LGBT community that we are where we are today, continuing to educate decision makers in newsrooms to sensitively cover the issues confronting each and every one of us.” – Meredith Vieira
 Meredith Vieira |
 Andrew Shue and Amy Robach |
“I almost didn’t make it here tonight. I went in the wrong door and ended up at the Museum of Sex. Turns out that’s where the after party is. If you don’t know, the password is Jeff Zucker or as most people refer to him, ‘Mother Zucker,’” joked Meredith Vieira. “Now, more than ever, our business boasts a field of prominent out and proud gays in key positions: Robin Roberts, Anderson Cooper, Don Lemon, Thomas Roberts, Rachel Maddow, Sam Champion and of course America’s closeted sweethearts, Kathie Lee and Hoda.”
Vieira presented NLGJA’s 10th Leroy F. Aarons Scholarship and the fifth Kay Longcope Scholarship to this year’s winners Matt Bloom and Linda Sankat.
 Meredith Vieira, Linda Sankat, Adam Pawlus and Jen Christensen |
 Meredith Vieira, Matt Bloom, Adam Pawlus and Jen Christensen |
We appreciate all the special guests and notable news executives who joined us for the evening.
We were lucky to have Tyson Beckford join us and auction off a special Chippendales VIP package that also raised funds for NLGJA. This evening was a special one as we celebrated two decades of the benefit, with Javier Morgado as Event Chair for the last 10 years. Javi, with his commitment, style, connections and verve, each year makes the night a not-to-be missed media benefit event and one to look forward to the next spring.
 Javi Morgado and Tyson Beckford |
 Willie Geist, Kate Bolduan, Javi Morgado, Meredith Vieira, Thomas Robers |
His generosity extended to donating an NLGJA Lifetime Membership to Meredith Vieira, who paid it forward and is sponsoring another new Lifetime Member. The generosity expanded with LZ Granderson sponsoring Zach Wichter as a new Lifetime Member and Steve Rosen sponsoring his husband, Ron Blum, as a Lifetime Member. In addition, NLGJA is excited to welcome these new Lifetime Member pledges: Dawn Ennis, Oriol Gutierrez, Eric Hegedus, Simon Hobbs, Christopher Martin, Rick Reichmuth, Curtis Sparrer and Kris Van Cleave. Several of the Lifetime Members were also fortunate to have their names pulled from a drawing to receive vouchers from Jet Blue, an incentive the company graciously provided.
We’d like to thank all those who contributed raffle prizes and silent auction items and those who purchased them, adding fuel to NLGJA’s programs. If you couldn’t make it Thursday night, please consider making a donation to support NLGJA.
We so appreciate how Headlines & Headliners would not have been possible without the support of our many sponsors, and we are happy so many could partner with us for this benefit event. Their support helps our programs year-round and we’d like to thank:
| PLATINUM SPONSORS | GOLD SPONSORS | SILVER SPONSORS | HOSPITALITY SPONSORS |
|---|---|---|---|
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CBS News BRONZE SPONSOR Atlantic City Alliance |
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