LOGIE AWARD

The 'Logie Awards' are the Australia television industry awards, which have been presented annually since 1959. Renamed by Graham Kennedy after he won the first 'Star Of The Year award' ^[1], the name 'Logie' awards honours John Logie Baird who invented television as a practical medium. Awards are given in many categories, but the most widely-publicised and prestigious award is the Gold Logie, which is awarded to the 'most popular personality on Australian television'.
The Logies are held in somewhat of a low regard both within the Australian television industry and outside of it.^[2] The industry itself is small and parochial enough to have few serious candidates. Particular individuals (such as Lisa McCune) and television shows are repeatedly re-nominated, regardless of the quality and quantity of their work in recent years.^[3][4] Journalists in particular will often seek to win peer-reviewed awards rather than anything in the popular vote category.² As well as the popular awards, there are awards for 'most outstanding' achievements for actors, presenters, and various categories of programs judged by an industry jury.

Contents

Nomination and voting procedures

Award ceremony

Award categories

Gold Logie

Silver Logie

Logie

Outstanding Awards

See also

References

Other references

External link

Nomination and voting procedures

Many of the Logie categories are voted by the readers of ''TV Week'' magazine using coupons in the magazine and online forms. SMS (short message service) was introduced in 2006. Thus, the majority of Logie Awards are fan awards. The readership of ''TV Week'' is a relatively small proportion of the Australian population, and skews heavily to teenage girls.^[5] The 'Most Outstanding' categories are voted on by a jury comprising members of the Australian TV industry and are thus industry awards.
To be eligible to receive a Logie, a programme must be Australian produced, set in Australia and have a predominantly Australian cast. Although in other years there has been a Logie for Most Popular Foreign Programme, this award is not part of the 2007 awards.
People eligible for a Logie must have appeared on an Australian-produced show that was broadcast on Australian television in the previous year. It's unknown whether someone who isn't an Australian but appears on an Australian-produced show that was broadcast on Australian television can be eligible for the award.
There are long-held suspicions that network publicists engage in mass voting to rig the results. However, no hard evidence has emerged for this, other than the experiment by the satirical newspaper The Chaser, who nearly caused low-profile SBS newsreader Anton Enus to win the Gold Logie. They did so by getting their small readership to buy copies of ''TV Week'' and vote for Enus for the award. While the attempt failed (narrowly, according to reports), their failure gives some cause for the widespread derision in the industry (particularly the 'quality' end) towards the popular-vote awards.²

Award ceremony

The Logies ceremony is televised, and has generally become more elaborate in recent years. The awards are now held in a ballroom in Melbourne's Crown Casino (rather than a theatre, which is common for the Emmy Awards and Academy Awards). Dinner is served just before the ceremony and alcoholic drinks are served during the ceremony.
Bert Newton has been strongly associated with the history of the Logies. As well as winning the Gold Logie several times, he hosted the awards a total of 18 times. He has also performed in well-received guest appearances. One notable appearance was with Muhammad Ali as co-presenter. Newton made a comment '"I like the boy!"' (in reference to a series of Tv advertisements Bert had recently done), that was seen as racist by Ali, although this was not Newton's intention. Ali was upset at the comment and a full apology was issued by Newton and the Awards producers.
GTV-9/Nine Network is strongly associated with the history of the Logies, particularly since the parent company PBL now also owns TV Week. Nine has hosted the awards a total of 35 times. Public voting for the awards begins in early February while the ceremony itself is in late March or early April, depending when Easter falls any given year.

Award categories

Logies are currently awarded in the following categories:

Gold Logie

Main articles: Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television

Silver Logie

★ Silver Logie Most Popular Actor

★ Silver Logie Most Popular Actress

★ Silver Logie Most Popular TV Presenter

Logie

★ Most Popular New Male Talent

★ Most Popular New Female Talent

★ Most Popular Sports Program

★ Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy

★ Most Popular Australian Drama

★ Most Popular Reality

★ Most Popular Lifestyle

Outstanding Awards

★ Most Outstanding Drama Series

★ Most Outstanding Actor In A Drama

★ Most Outstanding Actress In A Drama

★ Most Outstanding Telemovie / Miniseries

★ Most Outstanding News Coverage

★ Most Outstanding Public Affairs Report

★ Most Outstanding Documentary Series

★ Most Outstanding Comedy Program

★ Most Outstanding Sports Coverage

★ Most Outstanding Children's Program

★ Most Outstanding New Talent

★ Most Outstanding Factual Series

See also

★ List of Logie Hall of Fame

★ ASTRA Awards

References

1. Graham Kennedy Award for Most Outstanding New Talent
2. The insider Chris Taylor
3. Lisa McCune - Awards
4. Going for gold...
5.

Other references

★ "The Insider", Chris Taylor, Sydney Morning Herald, May 17 2003 - article describing the Logies, as well as a comic attempt to rig the Gold Logie voting process

★ IMDB page on the Logie Awards

External link

★ TV Week Logies - Official website