{"id":218195,"date":"2026-05-03T11:19:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T11:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/218195\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T11:19:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T11:19:10","slug":"pitchblack-awards-crowns-its-winners-at-historic-harlem-ceremony-ny-carib-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/218195\/","title":{"rendered":"PitchBLACK Awards Crowns Its Winners at Historic Harlem Ceremony \u2013 NY Carib News"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Mell P<\/p>\n

Harlem\u2019s Apollo Stages at the Victoria buzzed with creative energy on Thursday evening as Black Public Media (BPM) hosted the PitchBLACK Awards, capping off the nation\u2019s largest pitch competition for films and immersive media telling Black stories. With hundreds of thousands of dollars in project funding distributed on the night, the ceremony drew together some of the most vital voices in documentary filmmaking, public media, and emerging tech storytelling.<\/p>\n

BPM executive director Leslie Fields-Cruz welcomed guests to the storied venue at 233 West 125th Street, just steps from the neighborhood where Black Public Media has long planted its roots. The event followed a full day of competitive pitching at the PitchBLACK Forum on Wednesday, which was emceed by advertising futurist Tameka Kee. NPR\u2019s Brittany Luse, host of\u00a0It\u2019s Been a Minute, moderated a warm and probing Artists\u2019 Chat that gave the audience a rare extended look at two of documentary film\u2019s most enduring partnerships.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"(l-r) BPM Trailblazers Marcia Smith and Stanley Nelson with Black Public Media Executive Director Leslie Fields-Cruz at Black Public Media\u2019s 2026 PitchBLACK Awards. Photo credit: Ed Marshall\u00a0<\/p>\n

The evening\u2019s most anticipated moment arrived with the presentation of the 2026 BPM Trailblazer Award to Firelight Media co-founders Stanley Nelson and Marcia Smith. The couple, who have spent 25 years building Firelight into a powerhouse for socially conscious documentary filmmaking and filmmaker mentorship, were saluted before a room full of peers and emerging creators they have helped shape. Film Producer Sekiya Dorsett, in a video tribute, described Smith as \u201ca documentary Phylicia Rashad\u201d, an acknowledgment of her warmth, stature, and grace within the field.<\/p>\n

During the Artists\u2019 Chat, Nelson and Smith reflected on a quarter century of Firelight Media and what sustaining a Black-led production company truly demands. Their message to the next generation was clear-eyed and direct. Nelson said, \u201cLearn your craft and finish the film.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Smith offered some hope for the future not just for filmmakers, but all creatives, saying, \u201cThe future is bright because we are gonna make it so. Black people have a psychological advantage because of crises we\u2019ve been through. We will continue to do what we always did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Award-winning filmmakers Joe Brewster and Mich\u00e8le Stephenson were among those in attendance, alongside PBS Chief Programming Executive and General Manager of General Audience Programming Sylvia Bugg, PBS Senior Director of Programming and Development Wendy Llin\u00e1s, New York Women in Film & Television CEO Cynthia L\u00f3pez, former Corporation for Public Broadcasting Senior Vice President Kathryn Washington, and 2022 BPM Trailblazer Award winner Marco Williams. Director Sekiya Dorsett was also present for the evening\u2019s festivities.<\/p>\n

The Winners\"\"\"\"(l-r) BPM Trailblazers Marcia Smith and Stanley Nelson with Black Public Media Executive Director Leslie Fields-Cruz at Black Public Media\u2019s 2026 PitchBLACK Awards. Photo credit: Ed Marshall<\/p>\n

The PitchBLACK top Film Award of $150,000 went to\u00a0Hiding in Plain Sight, a documentary directed by Luchina Fisher and Yvonne Welbon that excavates the history and enduring cultural impact of Black queer performers on music and culture. The immersive media competition yielded equally striking work.<\/p>\n

The immersive category showcased the range of emerging talent competing for BPM support. First-place honors and $50,000 went to\u00a0Squidpunk, a high-energy beat-\u2019em-up video game centered on sisterhood and street fights in Y2K Japan, created by Naomi Urey and Georgiana Wright. Second place and $25,000 went to Connor Wall\u2019s\u00a0Omnivores Rule, a third-person biological simulation game exploring an android learning ecological empathy. The NCU Innovator Award went to Amirah Adem for work recognized as the Nonso Christian Fellow. Nile Price took home the $500 Viewer\u2019s Choice Award for\u00a0Silent.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Black Public Media Director of Emerging Media Lisa Osbourne with Liberian-American concept artist and graphic designer Naomi Urey whose game Squidpunk (created with Georgiana Wright) won the top Immersive prize of $50,000 at Black Public Media\u2019s 2026 PitchBLACK Awards. Credit: Ed Marshall
\"\"\"\"Connor Wall, whose Omnivores Rule video game received $25,000 in production funding at Black Public Media\u2019s 2026 PitchBLACK Awards
Credit: Ed Marshall\u00a0
\"\"\"\"Nile Price 2026 AfroPoP Digital Shorts Viewers\u2019 Choice winner for his film Silent at Black Public Media\u2019s 2026 PitchBLACK Awards
Photo credit: Ed Marshall\u00a0<\/p>\n

PitchBLACK is sponsored by Netflix, Andscape and the Sonder Foundation. The competition remains the largest of its kind in the United States dedicated to amplifying Black stories across both traditional documentary film and the rapidly expanding world of immersive media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Mell P Harlem\u2019s Apollo Stages at the Victoria buzzed with creative energy on Thursday evening as Black…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-218195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}