The T. Howard Foundation will return to New York City in September for its Diversity Awards Dinner after holding the event virtually in 2020 due to the pandemic.

The 28th Annual Diversity Awards Dinner will be held Sept. 28 at Cipriani's Restaurant in New York City, according to the diversity organization. Further information, including dinner award winners, will be announced at a later date. 

Also Read: Virtual Diversity Week to Return in October

The Foundation’s annual Diversity Awards Dinner recognizes and celebrates industry leaders and companies committed to increasing diversity and inclusion in the media and entertainment industry.

The T Howard Foundation will hold a Virtual 2020 Diversity Awards event on Sept. 30, six months after cancelling its annual awards dinner due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Given the unprecedented impact of COVID-19 in New York City and across the country, we believe that a Virtual Diversity Awards Event will be the best and safest way for the Foundation to celebrate our mission of diversity and inclusion,” said T Howard Foundation president Jo Pamphile.

The Diversity Awards Event will recognize the intern class of 2019 as well as pay tribute to the organization’s 2020 honorees. The Diversity Advocate Award will go to Jason Collins, NBA Cares Community Ambassador; The Executive Leadership Award to Ayo Davis, EVP talent and casting, ABC Entertainment and Disney+; the Executive Champion Award to Jonathan Hargis, EVP and chief marketing officer, Charter Communications; and the Executive Leadership Award to Dede Lea, EVP, global public policy and government relations, ViacomCBS.

The T Howard Foundation is the latest diversity-themed organization to hold a virtual event. Both WICT and NAMIC will hold virtual conferences during the week of Oct. 4.

Related: 2020 Diversity Week Events Go Virtual 

The T. Howard Foundation has postponed Wednesday’s annual Diversity Awards fundraising dinner due to inclement weather, according to the diversity organization’s Board of Directors.

The 25th annual dinner, which was set to take place at New York City’s Cipriani Wall Streetvenue, will be rescheduled later this year, although the organization has yet to determine a date. Representatives from the board said worsening weather conditions from today’s Nor’easter snowstorm forced the postponement of the event.

READ MORE: Jo Pamphile reflects on T. Howard Foundation's achievements

The T. Howard Diversity Awards Dinner was scheduled to honor AMC Networks with its Corporate Leadership Award and Univision Communications with its Corporate Excellence Award.

The subject of diversity will take center stage this Wednesday (March 23) at the 23rd annual T. Howard Foundation Diversity Awards Dinner in New York. Juju Chang, co-anchor of ABC’s Nightline, will host the event, which recognizes and celebrates industry leaders and companies committed to increasing diversity. T. Howard Foundation president Jo Pamphile spoke with Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead about this year’s event, which will award a Corporate Excellence Award to HBO, a Corporate Championship Award to ABC Entertainment and a Diversity Partner Award to Crown Media Family Networks and Microsoft. Pamphile heads a diversity organization that helps place young college-age people of color into internship programs. This year, the organization received more than 1,500 applications from college students of color for about 100 potential internship opportunities in 2016. Here are highlights of their conversation.

MCN:Heading into the dinner, do you believe the T. Howard Foundation is on the right track of accomplishing the diversity goals it set for itself and for the industry?

Jo Pamphile: We’re feeling that it’s sort of our time in a sense because, for one, diversity is in the news constantly. We believe we’re in such a good place with regards to our diversity efforts. Over the years, we have grown so much — we started as a summer program, and now we’re a year-round program. We have over 100 interns total this year, but we’ve expanded our reach beyond placing interns.

We now have a professional-development arm that we call our talent development program. What that program does is provide all the professional tutoring that the candidates will need for their positions.

We will also soon start a more aggressive eff ort to recruit diverse talent in the tech space. The industry is changing in that regard and the need for talent with those skills is growing. We feel that this is something that we have to do because the needs of our host companies are changing, and to keep up with that, we have to change, too. We will look to increase our recruiting eff orts to include engineers and [information technology] and digital media candidates.

MCN:Are you finding that more companies are reaching out to T. Howard to look for qualified persons of color?

JP: Yes. Our relationship with the industry has grown tremendously, not only in the number of companies, but in terms of the depth of services that we’re providing. Before, they may have just taken a summer intern but now they’re calling to help fill positions beyond entry-level.

When we talk about diversity, it’s easy to say you’re going to commit to it, and it’s another thing to actually do it. Companies want someone who really gets them and knows what they need, so for us it’s about knowing the skills requirement and the culture of their organization. There are young people out there who are talented, are willing to sacrifice and work the extra hours and do what it takes to be successful.

MCN:How did the organization come to choose its honorees for the event?

JP: I’ve had my eye on HBO for a long time, because their programming has been excellent in terms of diversity. When you think of HBO, you think of things like When the Levees Broke, produced by Spike Lee; and, most recently, the story of Bessie Smith (Bessie), played by Queen Latifah. They have always been innovative, and now we have the opportunity to honor them.

With regards to ABC Entertainment, who hasn’t heard of their “Thank God Its Thursday” lineup of Scandal, How to Get Away With Murder and Grey’s Anatomy? Who hasn’t heard of American Crime, black-ish and Fresh Off the Boat? We really look to honor companies like ABC that have a shared commitment to diversity on and off the screen.

We also have great guest presenters in John Ridley and Russell Simmons.

MCN:Overall, how do you see the industry’s diversity efforts?

JP: The doors are opening and I think that we’re no longer typecasting. It’s really saying we need to hire a person for this position, and if a person of color meets those requirements and is able to do the job, that person will get there.

The T Howard Foundation has tapped film director/producer John Ridley and entrepreneur Russell Simmons to present its Diversity Awards during its annual fundraising dinner this March.

Ridley, producer of ABC’s Emmy Award-winning series American Crime, will present the foundation’s Champion Award to ABC Entertainment Group president Paul Lee.

Simmons will present the Corporate Excellence Award to HBO, which will be accepted by HBO chairman and CEO Richard Plepler.

Other awards presented during the March 23 dinner include the Diversity Partner Award, presented to both Crown Media Holdings and Microsoft Corporation, according to T Howard.