“We want to give a Cannes Lions-level experience, but do it with the trust and integrity that we have in our community,” he added. 

For Cannes, the awards can help accelerate change more rapidly outside of its jury rooms, which “can only move forward so quickly,” Gray said.

“We need to create a different room of people, so that they can also look at work and say, ‘From our vantage point, this is the work that should be heralded.’”

Like Blackweek, the awards will focus on quality and start from the perspective of underrepresented groups “and their safety, recognition, and community,” instead of “starting de facto from the winners of history, which are white, male, cis, heterosexual,” Gray said. “When you come from a different place, your solutions are very different.”

They also aim to give diverse people recognition that can translate into cultural capital in an industry where there’s pressure to stand out while doing more with less. 

“The easiest way to get known for your work is to get recognized for your work,” Gray said. “Awards do so much for people. That’s the work that some young person is going to look at today or in 10 years, and say, ‘I need to be like that.’”