Pride parade awards

This year’s Pride parade drew not only a record turnout of spectators, but an unprecedented 140 entries. A panel of four judges —designer Rick Gaspard, artist Corrine Hunt, event producer Ross Atley and WE’s Gail Nuggent —picked their favourite parade entries in eight categories. And the winners are:

Outstanding Individual: Fag Bug, the VW bug defaced by homophobic slurs, and its owner, Erin Davies, who is on a cross-country trip to raise awareness.

Best Marching Unit: Theatre Under The Stars for its well choreographed street productions of Grease and Oklahoma.

Best Interpretation of Pride Theme: Bunch of Proud Young Gays for getting together in the name and spirit of this year’s theme, Pride in the City.

Best Standard Vehicle: Co-op Radio for its unflagging celebration of diversity.

Best Crowd Response: Cutting Edges Hockey Team for their high-energy rollerblading and public displays of smooching.

Best Community Group: West End Business Improvement Association for its tribute to Cinderella.

Best Float (National Business): CTV Channel 9 for its beautifully decorated mock studio set.

Best Float (Local Business): The Fountainhead Pub for its foamy beer mug of Pride.

Natasha Barsotti is originally from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. She had high aspirations of representing her country in Olympic Games sprint events, but after a while the firing of the starting gun proved too much for her nerves. So she went off to university instead. Her first professional love has always been journalism. After pursuing a Master of Journalism at UBC , she began freelancing at Xtra West — now Xtra Vancouver — in 2006, becoming a full-time reporter there in 2008.

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