The Otto Awards bring award season to SU

The Otto Awards brought award season to SU as the close-knit music community came together to celebrate one another’s hard work.

Syracuse University held the Otto Awards for the first time this year, making it its first music award show. It started with an idea that founder and audio arts graduate student, Abby Lee, had in class. 

She noticed that there wasn’t an awards show or celebration to showcase the music students were making. Others in the SU music community agreed and began working on how to bring the Otto Awards to life. Six months of hard work later, the award show was a reality.

In total, the show featured three musical performances and 10 “Ottos” given out.

The evening started with an “Orange Carpet.” One of the night’s hosts, broadcast and digital journalism graduate student Maggie Robinson, interviewed the artists as they arrived. Like any SU event, it wasn’t complete without an appearance from Otto.

Photo by Eric Finley

Isabelle Allon took home the award for Song of the Year for her song “Take the Lead.”

The show started with a two-song performance by Bandier sophomore, Isabella Allon. She sang and played piano, capturing the crowd’s attention with her powerful vocals. Her first song, “Take The Lead,” would win the award for Song of the Year. When receiving her award, she said she still felt new to being a musician. This was something you couldn’t easily tell by her enchanting performance.

Following Allon’s performance, Rogers was joined by her co-host and Bandier graduate student, Enzo Cupani, to present the first four awards of the night. They included Producer of the Year, Best Instrumental Composition, Best Solo Instrumentalist and Best Band. 

As presenters handed out awards and winners gave their speeches, it was apparent how close the community in the auditorium was. Cupani started the night by taking a playful dig at the Ottotunes. He would also later poke fun at Massachusetts, where one of the nominees was from. It felt like a group of friends celebrating one another as much as it did an award show. Nobody took themselves too seriously, which only added to the fun of the night.

After presenters handed out the first set of awards, senior audio engineering student Emma Setlik (who uses the stage name Ada Setlik), took the stage to perform two songs. Her performance was upbeat, with the audience bobbing their heads along to her guitar as she sang. Her performance combined fun and serious lyrics into easy-to-listen-to music that blended light-hearted and serious topics seamlessly. Setlik would also go on to win an award for Best Live Performer.

Photo by Eric Finley

CC Cosenza and her band performed the final musical act of the evening.

Presenters then handed out the final awards without the crowd’s energy wavering in the slightest. The crowd greeted award winners with cheers, loud applause and even chants as they made their way to the stage. The night felt like an outpouring of love and support for all SU musicians, not just the nominees and winners. No name a host read went without cheering and applause. If an artist tried to avoid giving a speech, then “speech” was chanted at them until they relented.

With the last award given out, the stage was then handed to senior music industry major, CC Cosenza, and her band for the final musical performance of the evening. Cosenza also played two songs. She had the crowd grooving along to her upbeat music, which combined powerful vocals and emotional lyrics with a laid-back rhythm. She also won an award for Best Live Music Performance for her performance on Orange Television Network’s Loud & Clear. 

Lee explained that, overall, the event, while an award show, wasn’t meant to be a night of picking favorites. She wanted it to be an event to celebrate SU’s musicians. Lee states that she hopes the event will become an annual celebration of Syracuse musicians.