To our 2020 Best of the Blues Award nominees:
First of all, we want to express our sadness and condolences to all of the members of our music family who have been impacted or have loved ones affected by the coronavirus. We also want to remind you there is help available to artists and musicians who are struggling financially. Many have lost your primary source of income and are scrambling to make ends meet. In the last month, we have seen some wonderful and creative innovations. We hope you are all weathering these trials with grace and strength.
The Best of the Blues Awards is a bright spot in the year, a time when we can all come together and look back on the year, make some memories and celebrate each other’s successes. But due to the COVID 19 pandemic and the Governor’s directives to not hold large gatherings or concerts we have had to delay our Best of the Blues awards show. With current new directives on opening up our state, we have come to realize that we will not be able to have the event in person as large gatherings will be delayed until late August or early September at best, and potentially even much later in the year, and maybe not at all. With the success that many have had with virtual events we reached out to many musicians and members who are experienced with current technologies and have decided to hold our 2020 Best of the Blues Award show as a virtual event. Our goal now is to present a virtual award show following the precedent set by The Blues Foundation with the 2020 virtual Blues Music Awards that aired May 3. This program can be viewed at the following YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheBluesFoundation
 We are hoping to present a show in late June or early July and are putting together a tech team and asking for assistance from all the nominees. Please send us photos for use in the presentation of you and your groups and nominated albums and artwork. We will be contacting nominees requesting performance videos as soon as we have the tech info and plan in place. The show will be broadcast on our Facebook and our new WBS YouTube Channel.
 We are all in this together and if we work together and support all of those in our community, we will overcome our current challenges and I’m confident we can create a fun and entertaining virtual event that celebrates all of our nominees and the winners in each of the award categories.
We will keep you informed of our progress in presenting a virtual 2020 BB Awards ceremony, and remember our website is a great resource to find social services, relief organizations, and other resources available to musicians. Until then, be well and stay safe.
Warmest regards, Tony Frederickson
President Washington Blues Society wablues.org