Billboard is now accepting nominations for the Chip Hooper Award, named in honor of the legendary talent agent, father and photographer who played a key role in building the Paradigm talent agency, which was purchased by Wasserman Music in 2021.
Hooper passed away after a battle with cancer in 2016; the award was created in 2018 as part of a collaboration between Billboard, his colleagues at Wasserman Music and Hooper’s daughter, Valerie Hooper, and son, Max Hooper. Now in its third year, the award is presented to a young rising star who works as an executive in artist representation, management or concert promotion.
In 2018, the inaugural award was given to Kelly Stebalsky of Live Nation, who first met Hooper after meeting him at an industry conference; she later left her job at William Morris in New York to come work with him in representing acts like Phish and Dave Matthews Band. In 2019, Sara Bollwinkel, previously with Paradigm and now a senior vp at Wasserman Music, won the award.
The Chip Hooper Award will be presented for the third time at this year’s Billboard Live Music Awards, which is slated to take place Nov. 14 at the One Hotel in West Hollywood. Nominations for the award are now open. While there is no age cap, please remember that the award is for young professionals on the rise.
To nominate someone, you can email their name, title and company, along with a brief description about why they deserve the honor and a list of a few of their accomplishments in the last 18 months, to dave.brooks@billboard.com. The deadline for nominations is Friday (Oct. 18) at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET.
