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2011 Winners!

To Nominate for the 2012 CODA365 Awards Visit Here

1.ASL Teacher (teaching ASL)

Bill Vicars

Bragging rights

Director, Lifeprint.com (An American Sign Language (ASL) resource for students, teachers, and parents.

Occupation

Instructor American Sign Language and Deaf Studies

Employment

California State University, Sacramento
Associate Professor, American Sign Language and Deaf Studies, 2003 - present

Education

Lamar University
American Sign Language and Deaf Studies, 2000 - 2003

2.ASL Poet

Peter Cook

Peter S. Cook is an internationally reputed Deaf performing artist whose works incorporates American Sign Language, pantomime, storytelling, acting, and movement.

Peter has traveled extensively around the country and aboard with Flying Words Project to promote ASL Literature with Kenny Lerner since 1986. Peter has appeared in Live from Off Center’s “Words on Mouth” (PBS) and “ United States of Poetry” (PBS) produced by Emmy winner Bob Holman. Peter teaches at Columbia College where he received the 1997 Excellence in Teaching award. In 1998, Peter set up a video production called PC Production and now based in Chicago.

Peter was featured nationally in festivals such as the Jonesboro National Storytelling festival , Oklahoma City Winter Tales, Illinois Storytelling Festival, Indiana Hoosier Storytelling Festival, Eugene Oregon Multi-Cultural Festival, and The Deaf Way II and the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Peter was invited to the White House to join the National Book Festival in 2003. Internationally,Peter has worked with Deaf storytellers/poets in Sweden, Norway, Denmark ,Netherlands, Austria and Japan.

Peter lives in Chicago and teaches in ASL-English Interpretation Department at Columbia College. He loves to tell stories to his son.

3.ASL Comedian/Storyteller

Peter Cook (Bio is above)

(Note from nominating party) Peter Cook truly needs no voucher for the nomination of an award; his impact on the community is nation-wide and he is well known for his acting/comedic talents. He illustrates perfectly that, while language and culture are tied together infinitely, one does not always need to know languages to communicate. Everyone, from all walks of life, can laugh together and experience joy. Through his varies performances, he shows us that we are truly not that different from each other and that we have a perpetual desire for equality, happiness, and opportunity in our lives.

4.ASL Advocate (Tied Winners)

Patti Durr

Patti Durr is Associate Professor in the Cultural and Creative Studies Department at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. Her areas of focus are Deaf visual art, Deaf theatre, Deaf cinema, and Deaf People during World War II as well as visual histories. She is intellectual architect for: www.rit.edu/deafartists and www.rit.edu/deafww2 and has produced several short films.

Peter Cook

Crom Saunders

Keith Wann

Emilia Lorenti-Wann

Windell "Wink" Smith Jr

Lisa Callsen

Louise Sattler NCSP

Rosa Rodriquez

Dr. Alan Marcus

Kari Clark

Dr. Lisalee Egbert

Marjie Stout

Paula Browning

Paula Browning, RID: CSC, NAD IV, NIC-ADV,

has been interpreting nearly 40 years. She has previously interpreted in such venues as Salk Institute in San Diego, Deaf West Theatre, various community colleges and universities, as well as conferences such as RID Region IV, SERID, CAL-Ed, ADARA, and Alabama Interpreter Metamorphesis (AIM). While currently working in the video relay field, she also has experience in education, conference and platform, mental health, legal, medical, and theatrical settings. She has taught ASL classes at the community college and high school level; conducted workshops in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Alabama, and Mississippi; and has been a mentor in California and Mississippi as well as being a mentor in the Video Outreach Mentorship Program sponsored by PEPNet’s WROCC.

Paula moved to Mississippi in December of 2003. She is currently president of the Mississippi affiliate chapter of RID, secretary of the Mississippi Interpreter Registration Law advisory board, editor of the MAD newsletter, and member of the RID Historian committee. Her focus is ASL, bilingualism, Deafhood, and history.

5.ASL Interpreter

Paula Browning

already have above

6.ASL radio guest on Keith Wann's ASL Radio show

The Coda Brothers

Andy and Ben Olson are Children of Deaf Adults (CODAs). Their parents are Deaf, and use American Sign Language (ASL)–which means Andy and Ben grew up in a bilingual household, having learned how to sign before they learned spoken English.

Their zany, fun upbringing provided countless hours of materials for their renowned performances as The CODA Brothers. However, their upbringing also provided them with unique insights into what creates optimal, successful interpreting. Both are nationally certified interpreters.

With firsthand knowledge of how to provide accurate, effective and top-notch interpreting services, Andy and Ben are among the nation’s most qualified, knowledgeable interpreters.

In 2005, they quickly became an Internet sensation after they made videos poking fun at themselves, at their cultures, and at everything else in between. Their videos went viral, and Andy and Ben suddenly found their interpreting services in great demand. ConnectVRI was then established in 2010.

7.ASL Vlogger

Don Grushkin (otherwise known as Dr. Don)

http://www.deafhooddiscourses.com/

8.ASL Cartoonist

Matt Daigle

http://www.mattdaigle.com/#all

9.ASL Owned Business

Convo

www.convorelay.com

10.ASL Role Model

Ella Mae Lentz

I’m Ella Mae Lentz, the founder of ASL Presents. I was born in Berkeley, California, to Deaf parents and a Deaf brother. Everybody else in my family was non-Deaf.

My education started at the California School for the Deaf in Berkeley (now Fremont). Upon graduation in 1971, my education continued at Gallaudet University. I received dual bachelor’s degrees in drama and English in 1975. Soon afterwards, I participated in the National Theatre of the Deaf Summer School and launched a career involving ASL. That career found me at various jobs in the areas of research, developing, teaching, performing, and presenting.

My employment in researching ASL has been at places like Northeastern University in Boston, Salk Institute in San Diego, and the University of California in San Francisco. Two significant examples of my work in educational and training material development are the National Consortium of Programs for the Training of Sign Language Instructors (NCPTSLI) and the Signing Naturally curriculum series.

NCPTSLI was a grant project with the National Association of the Deaf and had the mission of upgrading ASL instruction. For two years through NCPTSLI, Ella developed and tested curricula, recruited and trained instructors.

The Signing Naturally Curriculum Series started with a three-year federal grant through Funds for Improvement of Post Secondary Education to develop curriculum for teaching ASL as a second language. The work continues today, many years after the grant’s expiration. Numerous publications and video products have emerged from this, with a few more in production.

Teaching ASL has been at the heart of my career with 30-plus years of experience at various places such as Gallaudet University, Northeastern University, and full-time tenure-track jobs at Ohlone College in Fremont (1987-1990), and Berkeley City College (formerly Vista College) in Berkeley (1990-2007). In 2007, I retired from teaching and formed ASL Presents.

I have done performances on television and stage, including the children’s television show Rainbow’s End, several productions of Children of a Lesser God as Sarah Norman, Baker and Cokely’s ASL curriculum commonly known as The Green Books, the video The Treasure: Poems by Ella Mae Lentz presenting her original ASL poems.

I have also done hundreds of presentations on ASL, Deaf culture and Deafhood. The books, videos, and articles that I was involved with or am mentioned in can be viewed by clicking on “Products.”

I am married to my wonderful long-time partner, Judy D. Gough. We have raised five children, the youngest being Deaf; they are now adults. We have nine (now ten) grandchildren, of which three are Deaf. We love animals and have had many pets such as dogs, cats, llamas, a goat, rabbits, rats, a mouse, and iguanas.

(Note from the person who nominated Ella) Ella Mae Lentz has displayed an ongoing love of ASL and included this in her poetry, available for all audiences on Youtube where several students are inspired by her story. Running themes of her poetry promote bilingual biculturalism rather than a "one world" opinion where acceptance is limited to one type of person, one type of hearing or deaf status, and the exclusion of diversity. She invites the world, through her poetry, to consider more than the simple black and white of issues, cultures, and history. Additionally, she has recently begun a business wherein mentoring is made available to professionals (all ranges, Deaf, hearing, hard of hearing, CODA, etc) for topics related to their fields. For example, she offers mentoring available for the creation and presentation of PowerPoints -- a valuable task for workshop presenters, professionals, and teachers, as well.

11.ASL Actor

Sean Berdy

http://www.seanberdysite.com/

12.ASL Painter

Nancy Rourke

http://www.nancyrourke.com/

13.ASL YouTube Artist

The Coda Brothers

above info

14.ASL Student

Erika Wentworth

(Note from nominating party) I nominate Erika Wentworth for the "ASL Student" category. Not only is she a student, she has embraced the tenets of Deaf culture, and often comments on websites and blogs advocating for ASL, Deaf rights and against oralism. In YouTube, she is known as "banerika", but she can often be seen under her real name elsewhere.

And finally the "coda365 Award" will be awarded to the person that has contributed to the ASL world, think of this as a ASL lifetime achievement award. Those nominating must submit a brief letter explaining why the person they nominated deserves this award. (NOTE: Alexander Graham Bell does not qualify for this award.) The person who wins this award will have a $365 dollar donation in their name towards a KODA camp.

Peter Cook

Peter S. Cook is an internationally reputed Deaf performing artist whose works incorporates American Sign Language, pantomime, storytelling, acting, and movement.

Peter has traveled extensively around the country and aboard with Flying Words Project to promote ASL Literature with Kenny Lerner since 1986. Peter has appeared in Live from Off Center’s “Words on Mouth” (PBS) and “ United States of Poetry” (PBS) produced by Emmy winner Bob Holman. Peter teaches at Columbia College where he received the 1997 Excellence in Teaching award. In 1998, Peter set up a video production called PC Production and now based in Chicago.

Peter was featured nationally in festivals such as the Jonesboro National Storytelling festival , Oklahoma City Winter Tales, Illinois Storytelling Festival, Indiana Hoosier Storytelling Festival, Eugene Oregon Multi-Cultural Festival, and The Deaf Way II and the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Peter was invited to the White House to join the National Book Festival in 2003. Internationally,Peter has worked with Deaf storytellers/poets in Sweden, Norway, Denmark ,Netherlands, Austria and Japan.

Peter lives in Chicago and teaches in ASL-English Interpretation Department at Columbia College. He loves to tell stories to his son.

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