Arts

Student musicians walk the orange carpet, win big at The Ottos awards

Acknowledging the musical talent of Syracuse University and SUNY ESF students, Saturday marked SU's first student music awards ceremony, The Ottos. Ada Setlik brought home an Otto for Best Live Performer. Charlie Hynes | Staff Photographer

By Caroline ErskineAsst. Digital Editor

March 22, 2026

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Musicians from all around campus gathered in formal attire at Syracuse University’s “orange carpet” for the very first The Ottos. With a vinyl record theme, the producers, artists and band members mingled with one another, posed for photographs and were interviewed by the evening’s hosts.

“The whole goal of this is to create a sense of community within musicians all around campus, no matter what you’re studying, what year you are,” said Abby Lee, the Bandier Program graduate student behind the night’s vision.

Nearly a year after the idea came to Lee, SU held its first-ever student music awards ceremony, The Ottos, Saturday night at the Shaffer Art Building. The show recognized student musicians across different categories — ranging from Song of the Year to Producer of the Year. Bandier graduate students almost entirely organized the evening, mimicking other awards shows like the Oscars.

The idea came to Lee during MMI 428: Entertainment Innovation and Entrepreneurship with professor Sean Branagan last semester. She recruited fellow graduate student Luke Johnson as a co-founder. Shortly after, Rachel Moskowitz, a student who works with Branagan at the Startup Garage, joined the project, telling Lee she’d heard about it and wanted in.

Johnson said the awards also served a broader purpose for the organizers who have watched the campus music scene quietly fade over their years at SU. The Ottos were, in part, Johnson’s answer to that problem.

What started as an unserious brainstorm session in October grew into a months-long production process, Lee said. The team spent weeks combing through social media accounts, Spotify artists and student recordings to identify nominees from SU and SUNY ESF. They also opened nominations to the public so anyone could nominate themselves or a peer. An anonymous committee of students voted on the nominations.

“We wanted to create a community rather than deter people,” Lee said. “Awards can seem a little scary, like people are better than each other, when they’re not.”

The evening included performances by three artists: Ada Setlik, CC Cosenza and Isabella Allon. In what the organizers called a “happy accident,” all three performers ended up winning an Otto.

After a live performance during the show, Syracuse University senior CC Cosenza brought home an Otto award. Cosenza won the Best Visual Musical Performance category. Charlie Hynes | Staff Photographer

Among those recognized was Danielle Cuoco, a master’s student in Bandier’s inaugural cohort. Cuoco was nominated for Producer of the Year for her work with a production group — she produced a track from start to finish, manipulating guitars and live drums to create a fully polished sound. Cuoco said the nomination carried particular weight.

“There are not a lot of female producers that really get highlighted in the world,” Cuoco said. “Getting that, I was like ‘I’m gonna go there, I’m gonna represent my women.’”

Indie band Fever Dream earned several nominations, including Best Live Performer and Song of the Year for “Back to Boston.” Its singer originally wrote the track as a breakup ballad that the band transformed into a high-energy pop song in just a few days, band members said.

Band members and SU juniors Aidan Norton, Zach Kile and Nate Kile said the group has been performing frequently this year, playing at venues like Funk ‘n Waffles, The Song & Dance and campus venues. No matter where, they worked to keep sets tight and high energy with no dead space between songs, Nate said.

“It’s nice to see you succeed around here and get some recognition, because there’s a lot of great people here, a lot of great bands,” Norton said. “It’s cool to see everybody finally getting recognized.”

The team reached out to students at ESF, and several ESF musicians earned nominations, reflecting the organizers’ intent to cast as wide a net as possible.

“(Bands) are there — it’s just we don’t see them,” Johnson said. “This is all about visibility.”

The evening’s winners, across nine categories, went home with a vinyl record trophy to show for all of their hard work.

Whether The Ottos return next year remains an open question, as most of the organizing team will graduate in May, Lee said. But, the founders say they hope the show itself will be the best advertisement for its own continuation.

The night of the event, the auditorium was full of supporters and fellow musicians cheering for the nominees and performers. In winners’ acceptance speeches, they often thanked their families, their friends and the award show’s organizers.

Moskowitz said she hopes the energy in that room is enough to keep the tradition going, that people who attended and saw everything come together will want to be part of making it happen again.

“This is so incredible, we made it a real thing,” Johnson said. “We made it exist, all of us students.”

The following students went home with an Otto on Saturday night: