Clay and Tyra: Together Again!

"To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intellingent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give of one's self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived - this is to have succeeded." ~~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Clay will be presenting the Excellence in Media Award to Tyra Banks at the 20th Annual GLAAD Media Awards on March 28th in New York City. It is usually broadcast on Bravo or Logo at a later date (after the LA (April) and San Francisco (May) events are held), so keep your fingers crossed.

From BroadwayWorld.com

Actor and singer Clay Aiken will present the Excellence in Media Award to Tyra Banks. The Excellence in Media Award is presented to media professionals who, through their work, have increased the visibility and understanding of the LGBT community. As a long-time ally of the LGBT community, Banks has shown a strong commitment to educating the public about the lives of gay and transgender people. She has consistently featured LGBT people on The Tyra Banks Show and continues to increase the visibility of the community through the diversity of her co-hosts and contestants on America's Next Top Model, including her inclusion of Isis King, the show's first transgender contestant, on the most recently completed cycle. Past recipients include Billy Crystal, Julianne Moore, Diane Sawyer, Glenn Close, Patti LaBelle, Vanessa Redgrave, and Phil Donahue.

From GLAAD:

Since establishing her celebrated modeling career in the 1990's, Tyra Banks has become an international media icon. A trailblazer from the start, she has broken down barriers in modeling and entertainment media. In the fashion industry, Banks became the first African American model to grace the covers of GQ and the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, following these achievements with a Michael Award for "Supermodel of the Year," the modeling industry equivalent of the Oscar. After an illustrious modeling career, Banks moved onto television – creating, executive producing and hosting the tremendously successful reality show America's Next Top Model. She also produces and hosts her own Emmy Award-winning talk show, The Tyra Banks Show, which has received seven GLAAD Media Award nominations for Outstanding Talk Show Episode. In spring 2008, Banks appeared on the cover of The New York Times Magazine in a piece titled "Martha, Oprah, Tyra; Is She the Next Big Female Branded Self?" and Entertainment Weekly featured her on the cover saying "America's Next Top Mogul." In the same year, she was honored in Hollywood Reporter's "100 Most Powerful Women in Entertainment," Entertainment Weekly's "25 Smartest in Television," Glamour magazine's coveted "Women of the Year," and came in at #1 on Forbes "Primetime TV's Top Earning Women" report.

As a long-time ally of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, Banks has shown a strong commitment to educating the public about the lives of gay and transgender people. She has consistently featured LGBT people on her talk show, and continues to increase the visibility of the community through the diversity of her co-hosts and contestants on America's Next Top Model, including her inclusion of Isis King, the show's first transgender contestant, on the most recent cycle.

The Excellence in Media Award is presented to media professionals who, through their work, have increased the visibility and understanding of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Past recipients include Billy Crystal, Julianne Moore, Diane Sawyer, Glenn Close, Patti LaBelle, Vanessa Redgrave, and Phil Donahue.

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