Welcome to the 9th Annual POZ Awards, spotlighting the best representatives of HIV and AIDS in media and culture.
The POZ editorial staff selects the nominees, but POZ readers choose the winners.
Eligible nominees were active or were presented, published or produced between October 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024.
BEST IN FILM OR TELEVISION
Fellow Travelers
Based on the 2007 novel by the same name, this eight-part miniseries tells the love story between two political staffers, Hawkins “Hawk” Fuller and Tim Laughlin, during and beyond the 1950s Lavender Scare. While the show begins with one moral panic, it spans decades, eventually showing the relationship between the two characters in the 1980s, when Tim is diagnosed with HIV while living in San Francisco. The series is American history through a queer lens and packs an emotional punch. Not only did the series recount important moments in history, it used real historical iconography to tell its story: the finale included real panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Travelers went on to receive much critical acclaim, winning a Peabody award and was nominated for three Primetime Emmys.
RuPaul’s Drag Race
When it comes to telling real-life stories about people living with HIV, few shows have done it better than the Emmy-winning reality series RuPaul’s Drag Race. During its 16th season, which aired during the spring of 2024, Kansas City queen Q, who went on to place fourth in the competition, showed that not only can people with the virus compete and win several challenges on Race, they can also become fashion icons. Q became known for her gag-worthy looks and, in the process, Drag Race became another show that treated a person with HIV as more than just their status. It allowed Q to shine for her talent, as well.
To Live to Die to Live Again
A contemporary French romance, To Live to Die to Live Again, tells the story of a nonmonogamous couple, Emma and Sammy, who move above the apartment of Cyril, a single gay man living with HIV. Cyril and Sammy begin to have an affair and Sammy, too, becomes HIV positive. The film explores the nuances, complications and beauty of polyamorous life as well as the real choices that HIV makes people confront, while also including frank depictions of condom use, PrEP, and more. Thankfully, the film also avoids being punitive or moralistic about living with HIV and transmission of the virus.
Sister Eileen and Her Boyz, An HIV in the Rust Belt Story
Chronicling a Roman Catholic nun’s work, this 30-minute documentary tells the story of Eileen Scheiber, who cared for gay men while serving for the Catholic diocese in a midwestern town of Toledo, Ohio. Directed by University of Toledo professor Holly Hey, the documentary premiered on PBS earlier this year. Scheiber eventually opened David’s House Compassion, a shelter for people with HIV. “A lot of what we hear about the epidemic in the late 1980s and early 1990s is isolated into coastal cities,” Hey told the college’s online blog about her work. “What was happening here, and the work being done by Sister Eileen, was quite radical for the time.” Hey has said that the short film is part of a larger series that will examine people who lived with HIV or cared for people with HIV in the Rust Belt, with future installments forthcoming.
