Brought to you by another year of high-caliber flyfishing films, The Drake’s 11th Annual Video Awards in Orlando last week saw the crowds pour in to celebrate creativity, sharp storytelling, and gripping fishing footage across a spectrum of honored categories.
Highlights from the evening included Paul Puckett, Vaughn Cochran and special musical guests kicking out the jams, followed by free beer (until it was drained), and an endless flow of awesome swag. Additionally we saw the Confluence Films team pocket “Movie of the Year” for Providence—complete with tales of Somali pirates and plenty of GT triumps. Felt Soul Media nabbed “Best Cinematography” with their tarpon-fueled 120 Days. And “Best Adventure” went to MotivFishing for its South Pacific exploits in Middle of Nowhere. (Thanks for not dying, dudes!)
Finally, a big shoutout to emcee Ryan Thompson of The F3T, event photographer Bryan Gregson, party-planning wizard Dawn Wieber, and our appreciated 2017 sponsors.
If you missed the show, fear not. See the clips from all of 2017’s esteemed nominees, and find out who won what online today.
Tom Bie is the founder, editor, and publisher of The Drake. He started the magazine in 1998 as an annual newsprint publication based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He then moved it to Steamboat, Colorado (1999), Boulder, Colorado (2001), and San Clemente, California (2004), as he took jobs as managing editor at Paddler, Senior Editor at Skiing, and Editor-in-Chief at Powder, respectively. Tom and The Drake are now both based in Denver, Colorado, where The Drake is finally all grows up(Swingers, 1996) to a quarterly magazine.