2006 marked the inaugural year for the Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards. After months of collaboration and planning, the first show was hosted at the Holland Performing Arts Center in downtown Omaha on January 4, 2007. Filled nearly to capacity, the center hosted people connected with the Omaha entertainment industry.

At the 3rd Annual Awards Show, we presented “Hall of Fame” Awards to Kent Bellows (Visual Arts), Charles Jones (Performing Arts), and Preston Love, Sr. (Music). It is the first and only time this category of awards has been presented.

At the 9th Annual Awards Show, we presented separate “Technical Awards” for the first time ever. This special category recognized the behind-the-scenes artists that help make the magic happen, from prop design to choreography to sound engineering. We later integrated the technical awards into the 3 main categories (Live Music, Performing Arts, and Visual Arts).

At the 14th Annual Awards Ceremony, we were pleased to present the first-ever Cultural Stewardship Award to John Heaston in recognition of his 25 years covering local arts and culture as editor/publisher of The Reader.

The 15th Annual Omaha Entertainment & Arts Awards was our first virtual show due to the pandemic, and was hosted on Facebook Live by Cameron Logsdon and Maria Corpuz. In addition to the traditional awards, we also celebrated the cross-over between the local arts and health care communities with a special public health theme.