Week In Leather Editorial, August 10, 2015

The Pantheon of Leather Awards will celebrate its 25th Anniversary in October. The Awards were founded because there was no national system honoring individuals, clubs, businesses and organizations in the Leather community in the early 1990s.

There were local and regional awards programs sponsored mostly by the Motorcycle Clubs, particularly in California.

The first Pantheon of Leather Awards presentation was in Hollywood, CA in 1991, prior to then, The Leather Journal named a Man of the Year and Woman of the Year as do many magazines. There was no crystal awards presentation. The honor was just being named in The Leather Journal and the decision on who would be honored was arbitrarily mine.

No hoopla, no drum roll - they were just announced in my Editorials.

There are three award selection categories in the Pantheon of Leather Awards system: Most Awards are decided by public nomination and voted upon by a Selection Panel of previous year’s recipients, Community Choice Awards which are decided solely by popular write-in vote, and President’s Awards decided upon by me. This three-tier system creates a checks-and-balance in award selection.

Over the years, over 550 awards have been presented at Pantheon of Leather.

I hope you will join us on Friday night, October 16 in Atlanta, Georgia. Be there. Even if you are not nominated, but have friends who were, cheer on those who are being awarded.

A crystal ice berg-designed award is nice for the trophy case, but having a large crowd cheering you on when your name is announced lasts forever in one's mind. If you are being honored, be there to receive your coveted Pantheon of Leather Award.

See you in Atlanta.