The hard-working members of Perth’s LGBTIQA+ community will be recognised this Saturday at the 7th annual Proud Awards.
Organiser Dean Misdale dropped by the All Things Queer program at RTRFM 92.1 to talk about the awards, telling host Harriet Kenny that the awards just get bigger every year.
“Every year, especially in the last few years, we added new categories, so we’re constantly diversifying. This year we’ve added Variety Performer of the Year to again open it up to a wider range of categories and performers for awards.
“This year we’ve changed our voting structure slightly, so we still have out publicly voted categories, and then out committee voted categories this year we’ve also opened up to previous winners to also vote in their respective categories.
Misdale says the changes allow the awards to include more voices and more perspectives but admits you’re never going to make everyone happy, and there’s always going to be somebody arguing that an additional category is needed.
“I think there’s always going to be an element of that, some people take it much more seriously than others.” Misdale said.
“For me the awards are really about giving those people in the drag world and in the queer community a pat on the back and saying, ‘well done, we’ve seen you’ve worked your arse off, we recognise you, congratulations!'”
The one award which is announced before the big night is the Hall of Fame inductee. This year the honour goes to community elder ‘Nana’ Neil van Zee.
The evening has a mountain of entertainment including live signing, burlesque, boylesque, drag and circus acts.  Sugar du Joure and Sassie Cassie will host the evening and there will be performances from Miss Cara Queen, Tootsy Roll, Sassie Cassie, Skye Scraper, Cece Desist, the cast of The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, the cast of X, Lotta Love, Miss Phoria, the cast of Animal Instincts, One Erection and Matthew Pope.
Plus, after the awards international DJ Lee Daggers from Bimbo Jones will be playing the main room at Connections. Bimbo Jones are world famous having remixed artists including Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Pink, Ke$ha, Kylie, Kelis, The Killers, Tinchy Stryder and Katy Perry. They’ve also worked with the likes of Cyndi Lauper, Beverley Knight, KC and Leo Sayer.
If you haven’t got a ticket yet there are only a handful remaining!Â
OIP Staff
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