Welcome to the 3rd Annual Voicey Awards

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the 3rd Annual Voicey Awards, I'm your host, Stephanie Ciccarelli.

It is a privilege and my great pleasure to pay tribute to those whose work has been recognized this year. Voice overs are spoken word recordings performed by voice actors, perhaps better known to the world as unseen narrators, breathing life into every medium imaginable.

Thank you for joining me in experiencing this momentous event where we can come together in celebration.

Before I announce our finalists, I would like to acknowledge our judges, without whom this wouldn't be possible.

A very special thank you to Randy Thomas, the first woman to announce the Academy Awards, the voice of Entertainment Tonight and The Insider, and co-author of "Voice For Hire"; thank you to Paul Russell, a New York City casting director and the author of "Acting: Make It Your Business"; gratitude is also bestowed upon Billy Serow from Abrams Artists Agency in New York; thank you to Melissa Disney, the singing voice of Snow White and female movie trailer voice over pioneer. I'd also like to thank Kathleen Herles, the original voice of Dora the Explorer, British voiceover coach and talent Gary Terzza, Mitch Joel, president of Twist Image and author of the Six Pixels of Separation blog and podcast; and last but certainly not least, much appreciation is expressed to voice actress and industry blogger Bobbin Beam.

BEST NEW VOICE

Without further ado, the finalists in the category of Best New Voice are:

Michelle Ann Dunphy
James Clamp
Veronica March
Janice Downes
Matt Josdal

And the winner is Michelle Ann Dunphy! Congratulations Michelle!

BEST CHILD VOICE

The finalists in the category of Best Child Voice this year include:

Travis Mustang
Grace Taylor

And the winner of the Best Child Voice Award is Grace Taylor. Congratulations to you Grace! Keep up the good work!

BEST TEEN VOICE

This year, Sophie Neveu is in a category all to herself. It is my pleasure to announce that Sophie Neveu be awarded Best Teen Voice this year. Congratulations Sophie.

BEST PERSONAL BRANDING

Seldom are voice artists seen, except that is, when promoting their services. Living proof that it's not only the voice that stands out, the finalists in the category of Best Personal Branding include:

Nickie Jurado
Julie Williams
Doug Turkel
Vicki Amorose
James Clamp

And the winner is Julie Williams! Congratulations to you Julie.

BEST FOREIGN VOICE

As this truly is a global celebration, I'd like to take a moment now to recognize our finalists for Best Foreign Voice, who are:

Roald Woods
Wuzhi Lu
Julie-Ann Dean
Janpa Serino
Claire Dodin

And the winner is Wuzhi Lu! Congratulations Wuzhi for your outstanding work in Mandarin Chinese voice over.

BEST VOICE TEAM

Voice over is often a lonely profession, but there come times where two artists or more collaborate to create unique performances. The finalists in the category of Best Voice Team are:

The Voice teams of:

Robert Jadah and Diane Havens
Ken Theriot and Lisa Theriot

And the winning Voice Team for 2009 is Robert Jadah and Diane Havens!

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

It is perhaps my greatest privilege to announce the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Voicey award. This category is very special to me, and this year, there were many wonderful people nominated, including:

Don Morrow
Richard Horvitz
Bill Kates
Rita Pardue
Arroe Collins

It is my great privilege to share that this year's Lifetime Achievement award belongs to the legendary Don Morrow.

Don, I can confidently say this on behalf of the entire voice over community:

Thank you for over 50 years of service, for inspiring the world to believe in the magic of motion pictures, for blazing a trail alongside the late Don LaFontaine, and for opening up a world of possibilities for your colleagues and those to follow.

As we draw nearer to the end, two categories remain: Best Female Voice and Best Male Voice.

BEST FEMALE VOICE

The finalists in the category of Best Female Voice are:

Wendy Brown
Teri Clark Linden
Amy Taylor
Vanessa Hart
Heather Halley

And the winner of the Best Female Voice award is Amy Taylor! Congratulations Amy!

BEST MALE VOICE

To bring the program to a close, the finalists for Best Male Voice are:

Dave DeAndrea
Michael Richard Dobson
James Herron
Eric Gusky
Bill Painter

The winner of the Best Male Voice for 2009 is Dave DeAndrea!

Congratulations to Dave and to all of the Voicey award winners this year.

Thank you to all those who nominated voice talent and congratulations to all of the Voicey finalists. Thank you to our judges and also to the team at Voices.com for their help, support, and sponsorship.

Most sincerely,

Stephanie Ciccarelli