Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Alma Awards Recap

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TroutyMouth.com got lucky again. We couldn't be at the ALMAs (though we'll be watching this Friday), but our friend Stella, over at @NAYAarmy could be. She won a couple of tickets to see the show, and she agreed to tell her story on our blog, with a recap on the show- especially on Naya Rivera. So, without further ado:

When I first heard about that Naya Rivera was nominated for two Alma Awards back in August I was thrilled! And when I found out that the fans were allowed to vote I knew without a doubt that we had it in the bag. I’d seen firsthand what this fandom could do and I knew that we wouldn’t let her down. There’d been a few internet polls on various topics that Naya had been nominated for and once the fans got word of them we pretty much blew the competition out of the water with our dedication to her. I knew that we could pretty much take anyone on the minute we helped Naya beat Miley Cyrus in a 25 Hottest Stars Poll that summer. So there was no doubt in my mind that Naya would be taking home an Alma Award when the show took place in September.

About a week before the show was supposed to happen my good friend @NayaRSourceCOM told me that @PromesaPepsiCo was giving away two tickets to attend the Alma Awards. Without even thinking twice I started following them and 
participated in their contest. They asked all of their followers to tweet why Latino talent was inspiring to me. My reply was: "Latino talent inspires me because they're setting a positive example for the representation of their community <3." Well to my surprise, @PromesaPepsiCo liked my answer and within a few days I found out that I was the contest winner! I never thought that I would actually but I was so glad that I actually gave it a shot and because I did would now be getting to see Naya Rivera in person once again! The last time I got to see her was at the Glee 3D Movie premiere in Westwood so I was excited to get another chance to be in her presence! Once I got all of my information from @PromesaPepsiCo about picking my tickets up from will call I immediately decided to bring my mother as my guest. She’s a growing Naya fan and also really enjoys a lot of the Latino actors and musicians that would be at the award show. So we got all dressed up that Saturday evening and headed over to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. 

When we arrived it wasn’t too crowded. People were checking in, getting their tickets at will call, and filling up the fan bleachers right in front of the red carpet. Once I got my tickets we made our way to the bleachers to wait for Naya and the other artist’s arrivals. While we were waiting I go to meet the adorable Rico Rodriguez from Modern Family, George Lopez, Eva Longoria, Danny Trejo, and Michael Trevino. FINALLY I heard someone say Naya’s name over a security walkie talkie and I knew that her vehicle would be one of the ones arriving at the red carpet drop off soon! When she finally stepped out of the black car and started to make her way to the red carpet with her press wrangler the fans on the bleachers went wild! They started chanting her name (NA-YA! NA-YA! NA-YA!). About fifteen other celebrities had come on to the red carpet before her and none of the fans had reacted this way. She couldn’t ignore the chants so she stepped off the red carpet and made her way over to us on the bleachers. I saw her coming over in the most beautiful gold dress that I had ever seen. She looked amazing! People were yelling for her and begging to take pictures but unfortunately her wrangler said that she couldn’t but she did come over talk and sign a few autographs. I got a few photos of her and then she was whisked away to begin the actual red carpet. It was a super brief encounter but it showed just how much she cared about the fans to come over to us and say hi!

Once all of the red carpet fun had ended my mother and I decided to go into the auditorium since our tickets said that we should be seated by 6:45pm and it was almost 6:30pm. So we made our way in and saw that the place was actually pretty small and very intimate. Our seats were not too bad and we could see everything. Another thing that I noticed was that there was nothing separating the fans from the celebrities. I turned my head at one point and Mario Lopez had walked right by my seat to make his way to the bathroom. This was a very cool feeling! Knowing that the celebrities had no problem with just walking around on their own like they were regular people just like us! We sat through the pre-show which was pretty culturally driven and focused on the Latin community. It felt really nice to be in a room full of people that were proud of their ethnicity and accomplishments. At one point they announced the Favorite Comedy Actress category. It threw me off because I thought that would take place during the actual show. Demi Lovato ended up beating Naya and was absolutely adorable as she accepted her award. It wasn’t too long after that the real show began.

I sat by enjoying and taking everything in as they announced award after award. Finally it was time for the Best Female Music Artist category. I knew that this was the second award that Naya was nominated for so I was super nervous for her. It all happened so fast! The presenters announced her name and my mom and I squealed! It was just too crazy! Yes, we all love her and were pretty intense about voting for her multiple times daily for a month but she was up against well established artists like Christina Aguilera and Shakira, who have been in the Latino industry for a long time! The whole moment went by so fast and I just remember her looking surprised and so humbled by the entire thing. She picked up her award and said that it was for the fans, her friends, and family. It was the perfect moment and my favorite of the night. I went home after the show feeling completely accomplished on behalf of the entire fandom. The things that we can do are seriously endless and all of our hard work voting daily this summer definitely paid off. Our dedication to her is proven every day and I have no doubt that this is just the beginning to an amazing career for the beautiful and equally talented Naya Rivera!

--Stella
@NAYAarmy


Thanks again, Stella! Hope you all enjoyed. Now go follow her on Twitter! NOW! @NAYAarmy

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