Filmmaker Alonge Hawes was awarded the ‘Michael Ajakwe Jr ‘Don’t Wait, Create!’ trophy on Sunday evening at the 7th New Jersey Webfest, one of two specialty themed awards given annually at the festivals awards gala.
Hawes entered the night as a nominee for Best Director in a Thriller and Outstanding Script for his series ‘Silver & Gold’, a heist series centered around four high-class thieves in Atlanta who band together to pull off ever escalating capers. A successful screening of the series ninth episode, titled “The Children of Geb’ on Saturday evening seemingly hadn’t prepared Hawes for the honor, as a look of surprise engulfed his face when board member Ned Donovan called his name as the recipient. While thanking his late mother Pantheah Hawes and daughter Amina, Hawes spoke on the importance both provided in his life as inspirations and creative muses.
“I want to take this moment to thank two people who continually inspired me since this journey began. My mother Pantheah Hawes, and my daughter Amina. Amina, daddy loves you and I hope I keep making you proud.”
The ‘Don’t Wait, Create!’ award is named in honor of Michael Ajakwe Jr. A prominent writer and producer who wrote for hit television shows such as Martin, Sister, Sister, Moesha, and Unsung. In 1995, Ajakwe won an Emmy award for his work producing E’s Talk Soup, and in 2008 he received the city of Inglewood Beacon of Light award. In 2010, he created the world’s first film festival dedicated to web and digital series, the LAWEBFEST, which continues to run and operate. Ajakwe Jr passed away in 2018 after a three-year battle with pancreatic cancer.
New Jersey Webfest director and CEO Neem Basha describes the ‘Michael Ajakwe Jr ‘Don’t Wait, Create!’ award as “An award in recognition of excellence in filmmaking. It is not designed to honor an artist’s submitted or nominated project but rather their entire body of work and it’s impact on the web series community.” Past recipients of the award include critically acclaimed multi-hyphenates Joshua Pangborn, Jessica Alexandra Green, and Herman Wang.
Alonge Hawes first burst onto the scene in 2017 with the critically acclaimed web series Blue Collar Hustle, which launched on YouTube and went on to be broadcast on several streaming platforms including Seeka.TV, GoIndietv, and Kweli TV. Hawes created, wrote, directed and starred in the series two seasons, which collected over 50 awards at numerous film festivals in the United States and abroad. He followed that success with the series Black On Both Sides, which he again created, wrote, directed and starred in. Black On Both Sides ran for two successful seasons on Seeka.TV, meeting with acclaim and numerous awards. His recent endeavor, Silver & Gold, in which he created, wrote and directed, concluded its first 10-episode season in July on Jaro Media.
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