Fox Nation Patriot Awards Becomes an Annual Celebration for Fox News Superfans

Fox News took a good chunk of their cast of anchors, hosts, and personalities to the Grand Ole Opry Thursday night, for what they clearly see as a celebration of patriotism that they call the “Patriot Awards” in a very on-the-nose name.

But nuance and subtlety aren’t the game here, and while hipster media critics surely delight in mocking the event with snarky, ironic detachment, it’s no joke. In fact, I’m not sure that any other news outlet could even come close to pulling off such an event, for better and worse.

Fox News isn’t the first cable channel to host a brick-and-mortar event that features network stars for the channel’s super fans. No, BravoTV, home to trashy botoxed docusoaps, created the progenitor of the form with BravoCon, a name borrowed from ComicCon and other events for passionate and loyal fan bases. But while BravoCon is a three-day event in Vegas, the Patriot Awards aren’t quite at that level — yet.

Hosted by a western-themed tuxedoed Pete Hegseth, the Patriots Awards accomplishes a few things. Primarily, it provides a unique tentpole event to drive subscribers to the Fox streaming app Fox Nation, which was widely mocked when it launched five years ago but looks like a prescient and savvy move with every passing year. A year ago, it had a reported 1.5 million subscribers, and last night’s event had the highest viewership of any show of 2023 on a singular day, according to Fox News.

Secondarily, the Patriot Awards allows the network to trot out its top talent to interact with the most fervent set of cable news viewers: Fox News aficionados.

To wit: In attendance were Fox News personalities, including Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Jesse Watters, Dana Perino, Jessica Tarlov, Judge Jeanine Pirro, Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, Brian Kilmeade, Lawrence Jones, Janice Dean, Harris Faulkner, Will Cain, Rachel Campos-Duffy, Sean Duffy, Johnny Joey Jones, and Tyrus.

Lastly, the real reason for the award event is to honor the real-life citizens who have gone out of their way to demonstrate civic duty and patriotism in everyday acts. Cynics can mock that idea, but it’s not a sunshine soldier and summer patriot endeavor. These are the metaphorical stonebreakers of Gustave Courbet’s famous iconography that ushered in the Age of Realism.

Some of the highlights include newly named Fox Nation host and award-winning actor Dennis Quaid presenting the Salute to Service Award to Andy Negra, a 99-year-old veteran. Negra accepted the award, saying, “This is quite a thing. I was surprised to be selected for this particular job, but I represent all of the World War II veterans who are still alive. And for the other veterans out of the other wars, let me assure you, I represent you, too. That’s Iraq and all the rest of ‘em.”

Will Cain and Harris Faulkner presented the Young Patriot Award to Preston Sharp, who received the award for honoring veterans by placing flags and flowers on their gravesites.

Co-hosts of The Five and Janice Dean presented the Fox Weather Award for Courage to Tracy Harden, who credited surviving the 2023 Rolling Fork-Silver City tornado to a higher power.

The Back the Blue Award was presented to best-selling author James Patterson, who wrote Walk the Blue Line, a collection of stories from the front line. “I’ve been writing about the police for years. From Alex Cross to the nonfiction Walk the Blue Line. And what I’ve heard from officers over and over is, thanks for telling our side of the story… We need to make sure our police are supported by this rule of law. Bad guys, you do the crime. You do the time. I’m proud to be up here standing in for all these officers and rehiring our employees tonight. Go blue.”

The final award was the T2T Stephen Siller Patriot Award, which was presented to the heroic officers who ran to the scene of the tragedy, turned toward danger, and safeguarded the Nashville community during the 2023 Nashville School shooting. 

These were heartfelt moments designed to appeal to Fox News superfans, but they were moving to even the most ardent critic. But the Fox News executives care not for the cynicism put out by its critics — and yes, I have also been a vocal but fair critic.

Again, no other cable news network could quite do something like this; though CNN’s Heroes is similar, it’s still very different, seeing as this is designed for fans who purchase tickets, travel to the event, and are there to celebrate Fox News’s brand of national patriotism that they can’t get anywhere else.