Internet Personality Thomas Sanders Takes Home Streamy Award For Best Viner [Video]
The story goes on for Vine superstar Thomas Sanders!
On Tuesday, the Gainesville, FL., theater performer and viral personality picked up his first-ever Streamy Award for Best Viner, beating out several other notable players from the popular, six-second-film making app, including Streamy Awards host, King Bach.
Taking to the stage to accept his win at the Los Angeles-based ceremony, Sanders started off his speech by praising his fellow Vine nominees.
“I’m honored to be among all of these amazing people,” he expressed. “You guys are all geniuses in your own right.”
He then thanked the Streamys themselves for recognizing him for the honor, while also expressing his gratitude for those who allow him to change their mindset through his Vine videos.
“I [am] blessed with this amazing audience,” Sanders remarked. “I [have] this wonderful sense of purpose to kind of, you know, lighten people’s day every chance that I [can] get.”
Following the ceremony, an emotional Thomas took to his Tumblr profile to further thank his beloved Fanders — the colloquial title imparted onto his fans — for always remaining in his corner.
“So I just won the Streamy Award for Best Viner, and honestly, I am just so honored and grateful for not only this beautiful award, but for all the wonderful blessings I have been granted this year. You all have been so supportive and kind to me, and I am so humbled by it all.
“I got to collaborate with amazing people on YouTube, go on tour with my friends and see so many of you cool people, and continue creating my silly content. Thank you, thank you, thank you for enriching my life the way you all have. I do it all for you!”
The Streamys win is yet another accolade in a year that has allowed Thomas to push his career to bounds previously unmet.
As mentioned by the Inquisitr back in August, Sanders, along with friends and co-stars Terrence Williams, Jr., Nicole Visco, Leo Anderson, and Jay Harper, began an East Coast-set tour of a musical curated by both Sanders and musician Jacob Fjeldheim, Ultimate Storytime With Thomas Sanders. The 17-date excursion kicked off in Tampa and completed its journey during Playlist Live, an annual gathering of fans and social media personalities, in Washington, D.C., in early September.
Speaking to one of his many Fanders, Thomas expressed that he hopes to bring his Ultimate Storytime to many others places around the world in the near future, including Europe.
“We are pushing for it to be reinvested,” he relayed to the supporter via Tumblr, “and if that happens, we’re revamping the show and adding to it! We would absolutely love to take it to more places.”
As Sanders continues to wait for the go-ahead, his journey to his ultimate dream — a Tony-winning Broadway role — gets even closer. Sitting down with publication We The Unicorns in the lead-up to Ultimate Storytime, Thomas explained how the popularity of his Vine videos have allowed him to rub elbows both personally and professionally with several huge stars of the stage, both new and legendary.
“Vine has opened up so many awesome doors to that [world],” he said. “I’ve been able to interact with several members of the Broadway community, [including] Adam Pascal [from RENT], Leslie Odom Jr. [from Hamilton], and [actor] Seth Rudetsky, [who] invited me onto his show!”
“They’ve all been not only appreciative of my comedy,” Sanders continued, “but [they] also had some wonderful words to say about my performances. It’s given me so much hope that I could someday make that a reality and be on that stage.”
Other winners at the Streamys, as noted by Entertainment Weekly, include former SourceFED CEO Philip DeFranco for Best Show (The Philip DeFranco Show) and fellow musical star Todrick Hall (Straight Outta Oz) for Breakthrough Artist.
[Featured Image by Thomas Sanders/Facebook]
