Cloris Leachman submitted for Emmy® 10 consideration

LOS ANGELES, May 22, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "War of Awards," starring nine-time Emmy® winner Cloris Leachman, Kari Wahlgren, and Elias Toufexis, has been submitted for Emmy® consideration in the category of Outstanding Original Interactive Program. 

Leachman currently holds a tied record among primetime Emmy®-winning performers, with eight primetime Emmys® and one daytime Emmy®. In a strange numeric parallel, "War of Awards" covers 9 awards in 8 categories. 

"War of Awards" is a video game awards campaign combining an interactive program with a live event finale, all designed to bring transparency and public access to the otherwise elite video game awards season. 

Each organization's award serves as a precursor "play-off," with winners advancing to the fan-made "SuperBowl" known as the live debate "caucus," where supporters anoint the best of the season's winners. Further extending the numeric parallel, eight of the nine play-off awards were able to be considered before the primetime finale, while BAFTA was regulated to "daytime" status due to its late date on the awards calendar making it impossible to debate live. 

THE PROGRAM

In the website's explainer video, Kari Wahlgren ("Rick and Morty") and Elias Toufexis ("Deus Ex") sit down with awards maven Cloris Leachman to prepare fans for a video game award mega-battle. https://youtu.be/hoGUBS6GnYo

This video explains that concept (basically a Hunger Games for award winners) and then introduces the process by which a winner will emerge at the finale. 

The videos of voting events are user-generated, showing how voters have come together in person to fulfill the War of Awards. All content is available at: https://www.youtube.com/warofawards

THE GOALS

The campaign's purpose is to raise awareness of video game awards, most of which are unknown to the average gamer (just as Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA, AFI, and Spirit Awards are unknown to the average movie-goer). 

Since video game awards lack the draw of nominating great live-action performances to connect with the audience, the strategy is to give gamers a voice in the process so they feel more vested and connected to the content. 

Gamers are encouraged to vote on warofawards.org where they track each other's predictions and shared hopes for what "will win" and/or "should win" in each competition.

Votes are conducted all year long with the intention of generating buzz for contenders, possibly influencing eventual nominations, and keeping interest high in industry awards that are otherwise off the radar. 

Users are even given green screen footage of Cloris Leachman to make their own promotional memes on social media. 

A long term goal is to use the War of Awards platform to educate new and young voters on the caucus system, which is used in presidential elections by states as an alternative to the traditional primary election, most famously in Iowa with its "first in the nation" status. The explainer video features Iowa-born Cloris Leachman waxing poetic on a good caucus. 

THE INTERACTIVITY

Audience engagement begins here: https://warofawards.org/

SOURCE War of Awards