As New York continues to move through its phased reopening and Time In flips back to Time Out, we're taking a moment to look back and thank the people who made our homebound lives bearable over the past three months. Hundreds of New Yorkers voted in the Time In Awards and celebrated local heroes in categories like The New Look Award for best restaurant reinvention, The Virtual Stage Award for best live play reading and The Big Thanks Award for best show of community support.
We've tallied the votes and determined the winners—you can read all about them below. A socially distanced cheers is in order for all of our amazing nominees, from the chefs and bartenders to the Broadway stars and adorable penguins. We'll never forget the fact that you went the extra mile during an incredibly uncertain time. And now, without further ado, meet the winners of the Time In Awards.
Homebound Stars
The Quarantine Cultural Vanguard Award for best overall trend: Sourdough
The omnipresent baking craze really rose to the occasion.
Nominees: QuarBoards, Virtual birthdays, Animal Crossing, QuaranCuts, Houseparty, Board games
The Almost Like You’re Not Inside Award for best virtual nature experience: The Bronx Zoo and New York Aquarium’s daily livestreams
Turns out, virtual penguins make for surprisingly lovely co-workers!
Nominees: The New York Botanical Garden’s tulip and orchid tours, The Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s cherry blossom walkthrough, NYC Parks’ Parks@Home program, Woodstock Farm Sanctuary’s animal storytime, Governors Island at Home
The Quar Wellness Award for best health offering: Radio City Rockettes’ free dance classes
We may have thrown our backs out while high-kicking, but we sure had a great time doing it.
Nominees: Free Headspace meditation sessions for New Yorkers, The YMCA’s YMCA@Home program, 305Fitness’ live cardio dance parties, Tiler Peck’s #turnitoutwithtiler
The Get Lit at Home Award for favorite online party: Marie’s Crisis virtual piano bar
Belting out show tunes at home wasn't as great as in a crowded West Village basement bar, but it came close.
Nominees: Virtually Nowadays, The Lot Radio, Club Q, House of Yes’s digital dance parties, Marissa Goldman’s Google Doc comedy show
Food & Drink Heroes
The New Look Award for best restaurant reinvention: Junzi Kitchen bringing back Chinese takeout with a twist
The new American-Chinese delivery concept really hit the spot.
Nominees: Eleven Madison Park’s transformation into a commissary, Mina’s at Moma PS1’s new cooking series, The Clam turning into a community fish market, Ghetto Gastro's partnership with La Morada
The Order Now Award for best new takeout and delivery option: Fresco’s Cantina’s drag queen delivery service
Not only did these ladies deliver our meals, they did it in heels!
Nominees: Tailfeather’s cookie and natural wine delivery, Six Harbors Brewing Company’s beer-delivery dogs, Miguel Gonzalez’s ripe avocado delivery service, Blue Hill’s exclusive produce boxes
The Table Flip Award for best culinary business innovation: Woodspoon's home-cooked meals from out-of-work chefs
This brilliant new app let us order amazing home-cooked meals from out-of-work chefs just when we couldn't bring ourselves to cook another meal in our tiny apartment kitchen.
Nominees: Omsom’s new Southeast Asian cooking kits, Tilit’s pivot from chef aprons to face coverings, Stuart Cinema & Café’s movie popcorn delivery service, Norwich Meadow Farm’s farm-to-apartment produce delivery
The Kiddie Chef Award for favorite virtual kids cooking series: Freshmade NYC
This family-friendly virtual cooking series really took the cake!
Nominees: Christina Tosi’s virtual baking club, Dynamite Shop’s Dynamite Dinner Club, TasteBuds Kitchen, Allergic to Salad
Arts & Entertainment Saviors
The Home Exhibition Award for most innovative digital museum program: The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s digital programming
The breadth of digital offerings from the iconic museum over the last few months just couldn't be beat.
Nominees: The Museum of Modern Art’s online art courses, The Whitney Museum’s live art-making workshops, The New Museum’s “First Look: New Art Online”, The Guggenheim’s collection of free digitized art books
The Digital Babysitter Award for best kid-friendly virtual offering: The Lion King Experience: At Home
It's a classic for a reason! This free theater series offered a fascinating look behind-the-scenes of the long-running Broadway show.
Nominees: The Children’s Museum of the Art’s CMA Live!, The Children’s Museum of Manhattan’s CMOM at Home, The American Museum of Natural History’s OLogy, Lincoln Center’s #ConcertsforKids
The Archive Treasure Award for best archival performance streaming series: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Ailey All Access
The opportunity to watch full-length performances by the legendary dance troupe was an uplifting escape when we needed it most.
Nominees: The Shows Must Go On!, HERE Arts Center’s HERE@Home, The Metropolitan Opera’s nightly Met Opera stream, The National Theatre’s National Theatre at Home series
The Virtual Stage Award for best live play reading: Buyer & Cellar, Pride Plays and Broadway.com
The hilarious comedy starring Michael Urie, and offering a (fictional) peek into the private life of Barbra Streisand took the top spot of the entries in this newly-emerging medium.
Nominees: Molly Sweeney, Irish Repertory Theatre, The Oedipus Project, Theater of War Productions, The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, Plays in the House, What Do We Need to Talk About?, Public Theater
The Cyber Showtune Award for best digital performance of a musical-theater song: “Alexander Hamilton” by the original cast of Hamilton
This rendition managed to tide us over until we were finally able to watch the full-length recording on Disney+ last weekend.
Nominees: “Across the Way” by Jake Gyllenhaal, “The Ballad of Czolgosz” by Ethan Slater and friends, “Tomorrow” by Andrea McArdle and friends, “You Can’t Stop the Beat” by past cast members of Hairspray
Community Champions
The Big Thanks Award for best show of community support: The 7pm citywide clap
It was one of the most internationally recognizable aspects of quarantine for a reason.
Nominees: The citywide singalong, The #HeroesMovingHeroes campaign, NYC landmarks lighting up blue, The Bryant Park heart
The Homework Helper Award for best educational resource: The New York Public Library’s free online tutoring
The library came to the rescue once again!
Nominees: WNET’s “Let’s Learn NYC”, ABC Mouse, Khan Academy, Learn from Home: Scholastic
The Quarantine Creativity Award for best work of lockdown-inspired art: Rashid Johnson's paintings
The artist's timely, abstract works managed to capture the underlying feeling during these anxious times.
Nominees: Stephen Lovekin’s “Words at the Window” photo series, Sara Erenthal’s street art, Marj Kleinman’s Stoop Stories, Arielle Royston’s drawings
The Helping Hand Award for best community initiative: The Brooklyn Museum’s free food distribution service
The Kings County cultural institution reimagined what a museum could be.
Nominees: Dennin Winser's free hand-painted signs for Black-owned businesses, Gertie’s restaurant workers relief program, Piccoli NY’s Robin Hood NYC fundraiser, Fronlinesweetsupport.org and Dough’s free treats for healthcare workers
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