(Kevin Ross, Michael Ajakwe and Jean-Michel Albert) LAWEBFEST Selections to Screen in South of France; 2011 Honorees Named
LAWEBFEST, the only all-web series festival in the world, is honoring Kevin Ross, host of tv's "America's Court with Judge Ross", with the Social Media Award for his efforts at educating the public, especially minority communities, on digital issues affecting them though his 3BAAS Media internet marketing firm and online column.
“Receiving this honor affirms what I believe to be absolutely true – in order to achieve success as each of us individually defines it, you must do what you love,” Ross said. “I’m fortunate that my passion for new media has lead to the creation of a business and me hosting my own television court show.”
Created in 2010 by veteran Emmy-winning tv producer and NAACP Award-winning playwright Michael Ajakwe, Jr., the Los Angeles Web Series Festival is the industry (and world's) first all-web series festival honoring serialized shows created for the Internet. The goal of the three-day festival is to celebrate web shows by bringing creators, producers, directors, actors and technicians together under one roof.
In addition to Ross, Jean-Michel Albert-- founder of Europe's first all-web series festival-- will be honored with the festival's “Envisioneer Award” for his efforts at organizing the first all-web series festival in Europe. Additionally, Albert is awarding 6 LAWEBFEST entries with an all-expense paid trip to Europe in October to showcase their web series to an international audience at the Marseille Webfest.
“The web series is a global phenomena and our partnership with Europe's first web series festival is just the beginning,” said LAWEBFEST Founder and Executive Director Michael Ajakwe Jr. "This year, we're thrilled that we can offer a handful of LAWEBFEST entries an opportunity to expose their wonderful shows to a European audience... Building a sense of community is one of our main goals and we have a great partner in producer Jean-Michel Albert.”
“I am humbled and honored to receive this award from another pioneer in the web series industry,” Albert declared.
Los Angeles Web Series Festival takes place March 25-27 at the Stage 52 Theatre in Los Angeles. The Marseille Webfest in Marseille, France is being spear-headed by the Paris and Marseille-based tv, film and web series producer October 14-16 2011. Last year, when the city of Marseille expressed an interest in hosting a web series festival Albert-- who was chosen to lead those efforts-- reached across the Atlantic ocean to Ajakwe.
Other festival honorees include "Maverick Award" recipient Scott Rice, whose award winning parody series “Script Cops” drew the attention of Sony Digital after it received over a million hits. The "Groundbreaker Award" will go to Hayden Black, an innovative English online media producer whose "Goodnight, Burbank" is the first web series adapted into a half-hour comedy made specifically for the web.
Festival organizers this year have seen a dramatic rise in entries and expect the number of screenings to double. Thus far, 50 web series have been selected from nearly 200 submissions. These entries hail from 19 different states and 8 foreign countries.