3.12.15 Editor’s Desk

I’m competitive, but I don’t necessarily like contests. I’m not one of these new age people who think everyone should get an award or a trophy for just showing up. Trophies, tiaras and awards should be given to those who earn them. But contests—no matter the type—can cause hurt feelings, bitterness and resentment.

When I was in school I excelled at track & field. I was a hurdler—running in both the 110 high hurdles and the 300 intermediates. I am proud to say I have a collection (somewhere in my parents’ basement, I suppose) of medals from local, small town meets to the state finals. During those late teenage years, track was my life. I measured my success on the number of shiny medals hanging on my bedroom wall.
Not all of those medals were for first place, mind you. Several represented second and third place finishes. But the multiple colors added to the overall weight of my collection, and you can bet every one of them was proudly displayed in a case built by my aunt.

On the other hand, I wasn’t so successful in other areas.

I had to drop out of an advanced placement biology course my senior year in high school because it impacted my GPA negatively. And while I’ve always been one of the tallest people in the room, basketball was far from my forte.

Sure, I played. But playing basketball and playing basketball well are two very different things.

While I was always encouraged to chase my own dreams and to do my best at whatever activity I chose—sports, academics or my career—I was also taught how to deal with the disappointment that comes when—not if—I fall a little short.

My mother used to say that the actions of a person who receives an award—or doesn’t, in some cases—says much more than the hardware acquired. Winning gracefully is just as important as losing gracefully, she’d say.

In our modern, tech-savvy world, there are immediate examples of how not to behave. For an example, search YouTube for the video of the 2015 Miss Amazon Pageant. Copies of a cell phone video showing runner-up Miss Brazil literally snatching the crown from the winner’s head will immediately fill the feed.

It’s a reaction each of us have envisioned in our minds at some point, but have never acted upon. It’s also awkward, surprising and disturbingly hilarious.

Disappointment is to be expected in a situation like that—or in any kind of contest when one falls short of the expectations. But how one verbalizes or shows that disappointment says a lot about that person’s character.

Miss Brazil, I’m sure, is not on any short lists for keynote speaking engagements or racking up awards for her superior work in customer service.

She now has the label of “that queen.”

I bring all of this up, of course, because this is our WAVE issue. Our readers have nominated and selected their favorites in a large number of categories. Within these pages are the results, and on Thursday, March 12, parties celebrating these results will happen in St. Petersburg and in Orlando.

And celebrate we should. The people highlighted within this issue have earned the respect and admiration of thousands of readers. Their support of the LGBT community and the attitudes they present in their chosen professions is what prompted voters to click on their names in our final balloting last month.

All of the nominees should be very proud.

I’ve said it before. This is my favorite issue of the year—even if it is presented in the spring rather than in the fall this year. It’s admittedly a lot of work for our staff to cull together this issue. But there are rarely complaints.

That’s because it gives us a rare chance to turn the mirror on our own community and learn a little bit more about the people, businesses and organizations that make life a little bit better for all of us living here.

So I invite you to join me and the staff of this newsmagazine in congratulating every nominee in the 2015 Watermark Awards for Variety and Excellence.