Game Show Congress
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The Game Show Congress is an annual meeting of industry professionals, former contestants and fans of game shows. For 2007, the congress will be divided between two locations, a "boot camp" training session to be held on June 2 in the New York City metro area and an awards banquet to be held on July 15 in the Los Angeles metro area. During the luncheon, the Ralph Edwards Career Community Service Award and the Bill Cullen Career Achievement Award will be presented.
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[edit] Past Congresses
The first Game Show Congress was held in Boulder, Colorado as an outgrowth of the University of Colorado Program Council Trivia Bowl and was spearheaded through the efforts of Paul Bailey. Featured guests included game show guru Steve Beverly as well as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire winners Ed Toutant and Lori Bailey plus multi-show winner Leszek Pawlowicz.
The second Congress moved to Las Vegas, Nevada and was held in conjunction with an open quiz bowl tournament operated by Testing Recall About Strange Happenings (T.R.A.S.H). Featured speakers included former Starcade host Mark Richards, all-time Who Wants to Be a Millionaire winner Kevin Olmstead, a presentation from NTN/Buzztime, a presentation about the World's Largest Trivia Contest staged each year by 90FM in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, and the first appearance of The Game Show Round, a fast-paced game with elements of over 30 different game shows from around the world.
Moving to Burbank, California in 2004, the Congress moved to a multi-day format and added additional competition formats such as Paul Paquet's SmartyPants tournament and The Game Show Home Game Tournament. There was also an official Jeopardy! test and tryout. This session also marked the first time the Ralph Edwards Career Community Service Award and the Bill Cullen Career Achievement Award were presented. The Edwards award was accepted by son Gary Edwards on Ralphs' behalf, while the Cullen award went posthumously to Bill Cullen. Guest speakers honoring Barker and Cullen included Dick Clark, Jack Narz, Tom Kennedy, Jayne Meadows and Betty White. Don Pardo and Kitty Carlisle also gave taped tributes.
The 2005 session was heavily devoted to a remembrance of the long time show Concentration and featured panel discussions with producer Norman Blumenthal and undefeated champion Ruth Horowitz. Monty Hall was presented with the Edwards Award recognizing his long career as both a game show host, producer and philanthropist while the Cullen Award was presented to brothers Jack Narz and Tom Kennedy. Guest speakers included comedian Shelley Berman, actress-comedienne Pat Carroll, announcer John Harlan, modern era emcees Todd Newton and Guillermo Huesca, producer Stu Billett, and talent coordinator Jean Brown. Carol Merrill and Michael Davies gave taped tributes[1].
Music was added to the mix for the 2006 session as the world's only game show cover band, the Ceramic Dalmatians, made their first live performance. J. Keith van Straaten hosted and Jim Newman directed an edition of "What's My Line, Live", with panelists Betsy Palmer, Frank Nicotero, Sarah Purcell and Stuart Shostak, while the mystery guest was Shirley Jones. There was an official test and tryout for the show "1 vs 100". A panel discussion "Working as a Game Show Host and Game Show Announcer" was led by Laura Chambers ("Weakest Link", "Greed") with Sarah Purcell, Larry Anderson, Burton Richardson, Jack Narz, Johnny Gilbert. Anderson and Richardson also teamed up as host and announcer for a charity fundraiser game of "Buzzer Battle" benefiting the AIDS Research Alliance. Bob Harris read from his book "Prisoner of Trebekestan". Tic Tac Dough host Wink Martindale, producer Ronnie Greenberg and 43 game winning contestant Thom McKee participated in a panel on the show, and there was an industry panel discussion moderated by TV Host & Producer Roger Rose, featuring participants Bob Boden (VP Programming, Fox Reality Channel), Stu Billet (Executive Producer, "The People's Court"), Harry Friedman (Executive Producer, "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy!"), Michael Brockman (former VP Programming CBS, ABC, and Goodson-Todman Productions), and Scott St. John (Executive Producer, "Deal or No Deal"). Long time Hollywood Squares host Peter Marshall was presented with the Cullen Award and William Morris executive Vice President Mark Itkin was presented with the Edwards Award. Guest speakers included Rose Marie, Betsy Palmer, Fred Silverman, Johnny Gilbert, Tom Kennedy, Kathy Garver, Harry Friedman and Al Howard[2].
[edit] Bill Cullen Award
This award is given to the industry figure as a recognition of lifetime achievement in the area of game shows.
- 2004: Bill Cullen
- 2005: Jack Narz and Tom Kennedy
- 2006: Peter Marshall
[edit] Ralph Edwards Award
This award is given to the industry figure who has contributed both to the game show community as well as the world at large:
- 2004: Ralph Edwards
- 2005: Monty Hall
- 2006: Mark Itkin
