Rachel Dratch, the comedienne best known for her seven-year stint on “Saturday Night Live,” will host the 7th annual Shorty Awards, which will bestow laurels on the top social-media personalities and sites of the year.
This year’s Shorty Awards will be held April 20 at the New York Times Center in midtown Manhattan and webcast live online. Winners are selected by members of the Real-Time Academy of Short Form Arts & Sciences.
Dratch (coincidentally?) is short in stature herself: She stands just 5 feet tall.
“It’s wicked awesome that Rachel Dratch is hosting the Shorty Awards,” Greg Galant, co-founder of the Shorty Awards and CEO of Sawhorse Media, the New York-based startup producing the event, said in a statement. “The ceremony will hold a mirror — or a forward-facing camera, at least — to the social-media world. Rachel will help us laugh at ourselves while honoring the best of social media.”
Dratch, since leaving “SNL” in 2006, has appeared on NBC’s “30 Rock” and CBS’s “King of Queens,” as well as shows including “Parks and Recreation,” “Ugly Betty,” “Up All Night,” “Suburgatory,” “The Middle” and “Broad City.” The thesp, an alumna of Chicago’s Second City, will be seen in the upcoming film “Sisters” starring Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, set to be released Christmas 2015. She’s repped by Paradigm.
Shorty Awards presenters this year are slated to include Wyclef Jean, Kevin Jonas, and YouTube stars Tyler Oakley and GloZell Green.
The Shorty Awards recognize the best of social media across multiple categories, spanning people and organizations producing content on YouTube, Twitter and Vine, Facebook and Instagram, Yahoo’s Tumblr and other social services. The list of this year’s nominees is available here.
Members of the Real-Time Academy of Short Form Arts & Sciences include Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak; actor Adam Scott; Virgin America chief marketing officer Luanne Calvert; celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, actor-producer Nick Cannon; Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger; YouTube comedy duo The Fine Bros.; Craigslist founder Craig Newmark; and actress and philanthropist Alyssa Milano.
Variety
