2010 Yahoo! Contributor Awards Acceptance Speech: Content of the Year for 'Stan Lee Interview with Associated Content'

It is with a big smile and a thankful spirit that I accept the Yahoo Contributor Network Content of the Year Award for Stan Lee Interview With Associated Content. This finalizes an experience that will go down in my life as one of my favorite moments.

When I was young, I remember being asked to write an essay about the people that I would most like to meet in my life. Stan Lee was one of those people, and not just because I was a comic book fan. Here was a person that created such characters as Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, and the X-Men (along with many others) which helped to shape the minds of countless people. Some might look upon comic books as being hokey or trivial, but these same people do not understand the inner messages of comic books.

The reason why I was so interested in meeting Stan Lee as a child, and later as an adult, was that he used comic book characters to pass on underlying messages about how it was alright to be different, to stand up against inequality, to break down barriers, and to stand up when everyone else was sitting on their hands. If you have read the interview, you will notice that some of the interview focuses on these aspects as his words helped to shape my life over the years.

I want to thank everyone that supported me on this article, read it, and helped to promote it. You helped me get out the word as to why I have always believed that Stan Lee was worth so much. Thank you also to those that nominated my interview with Stan Lee for the Yahoo Contributor Network Content of the Year Award, and those that had the final vote on the award. There is nothing like validating a person's dream.

I would like to thank Dennis Barger, the mastermind behind Detroit FanFare. Not only was he able to land Stan Lee for this convention in the first place, it was through him that I ultimately received my press credentials for the event, and the ability to interview Stan Lee. The experiences at that show were priceless to me, and I hope that I will have the opportunity to cover it in the future (hint hint Dennis).

Finally, I would like to thank my wife for dealing with me for countless hours as a prepared for my interview with Stan Lee. I cannot count the number of potential questions that I ran by her, or the number of hours in which she had to deal with me fretting about whether a question was covered already by a previous interview that Stan Lee had done. There is nothing like having a spouse that is proud of you.