The Oscars may be right around the corner, but awards season in Hollywood never really ends. On Friday, the Humane Society of the United States announced nominations for its Genesis Awards, which will see Universal Pictures’ whale-centric Big Miracle compete for feature film honors with Lawrence Kasdan’s Darling Companion, about the search for a lost dog, Fantastic Films’ Dehli Safari and Imax/Warners’ To the Arctic 3D.
The awards, which honor news and entertainment media for raising awareness of animal issues, will be presented at the HSUS’ Genesis Awards Benefit Gala, hosted by Dancing With the Stars’ Carrie Ann Inaba, on March 23 at the Beverly Hilton.
Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report and Futurama and NBC’s The New Normal are in the running for the Genesis Sid Caesar Comedy Award, while ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, NBC’s Harry’s Law and FX’s Sons of Anarchy are up for the dramatic series prize.
In broadcast news, NBC’s Rock Center With Brian Williams and Nightly News, ABC’s 20/20, Nightline and World News Tonight With Diane Sawyer and CBS’ 60 Minutes, CBS Evening News With Scott Pelley and CBS This Morning are all contending for newsmagazine, national news and morning show awards.
On the cable television front, HBO’s One Nation Under Dog takes on Discovery’s Ivory Wars and Animal Planet’s Street Dog of South Central for the Genesis TV Documentary award. And in reality programming, Nat Geo’s Wild Justice and Philly Undercover are nominated alongside Animal Planet’s My Cat From Hell and MSNBC’s Caught on Tape.
“For 27 years, the Genesis Awards have celebrated the power of the media to shed light on animal protection issues,” Beverly Kaskey, senior director of HSUS’ Hollywood Outreach and executive producer of The Genesis Awards Benefit Gala, said. “This year one nominee, Big Miracle, reflects the Genesis credo with its true account of how one TV reporter’s story triggers a worldwide effort to save a family of imperiled whales, proving that the media can and does make a difference.”
2013 Genesis Awards Nominations
FEATURE FILM
BIG MIRACLE Universal Pictures
DARLING COMPANION Kasdan Films / Sony
DELHI SAFARI Fantastic Films International, LLC
TO THE ARCTIC Imax /Warner Bros.
DRAMATIC SERIES
GREY’S ANATOMY “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” ABC
HARRY’S LAW “Gorilla My Dreams” NBC
SONS OF ANARCHY “J'ai Obtenu Cette" FX
SID CAESAR COMEDY AWARD
THE COLBERT REPORT Representative Steve King on dogfighting Comedy Central
FUTURAMA “31stCentury Fox” Comedy Central
THE NEW NORMAL “Pardon Me” NBC
TV DOCUMENTARY
IVORY WARS Discovery Channel
ONE NATION UNDER DOG: Stories of Fear, Loss and Betrayal HBO
STREET DOGS OF SOUTH CENTRAL Animal Planet
REALITY
CAUGHT ON CAMERA “Hoarding” MSNBC
MY CAT FROM HELL Animal Planet
PHILLY UNDERCOVER “The Raid” Nat Geo WILD
WILD JUSTICE Nat Geo Channel
TV NEWSMAGAZINE
20/20 “Deadly Pets” ABC
60 MINUTES “The Race to Save The Tortoise” CBS
INSIDE EDITION “Cockfighting Investigation” Syndicated
NIGHTLINE “The Ugly Truth Behind High Stepping Horses” ABC
ROCK CENTER WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS “At What Cost?”, “Ken and Rosie, “Last Stand” NBC
NATIONAL NEWS
ABC WORLD NEWS WITH DIANE SAWYER downer cow video
CBS EVENING NEWS WITH SCOTT PELLEY “Ivory Poaching”
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS “Hurricane Sandy: Protecting Our Pets”
MORNING SHOW
CBS THIS MORNING “Shark Tagging”
CNN SATURDAY MORNING “Little Boy Blue”
LOCAL TV NEWS
KDVR-TV DENVER FOX 31 NEWS AT NINE "Saving the Discarded Dogs"
KNBC 4 NEWS "Bunny Trafficking"
WOIO TV 19 ACTION NEWS "Busted in Oklahoma" and "An Exotic Homecoming"
CHILDREN’S PROGRAMMING
NICK NEWS WITH LINDA ELLERBEE “Animals? Show Me the Money!” Nickelodeon
BRIGITTE BARDOT INTERNATIONAL TV
60 MINUTES “Jungle Warfare” Nine Network Australia
CARTE BLANCHE “Damien’s Rhino War,” “Elephant Birth Control,” “Mauritius Cattle Ship” M-Net South Africa
THE HANOI CONNECTION Spiegel TV (Germany)
MAGAZINE
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC “Cheetahs on the Edge” by Roff Smith, “Ivory Worship” by Bryan Christy,“Rhino Wars” by Peter Gwin
TIME “Beasts of Burden” by Bryan Walsh
COLUMNIST
THE NEW YORK TIMES Nicholas D. Kristof “Is an Egg for Breakfast Worth This?”
THE CHATTANOOGAN.COM Roy Exum multiple part series on Tennessee Walking Horse soring
NEWSPAPER SERIES
THE SACRAMENTO BEE three-part series on Wildlife Services by Tom Knudson
BRIGITTE BARDOT INTERNATIONAL
SOUTH ASIA MAGAZINE (Pakistan) “Animal Welfare in Islam” by Aiman Reyaz and
“Law of the Land” by Anees Jillani with commentary by Syed Rizvi
THE STAR (South Africa) “Silencing the Seals” and “Slaughter on the Sand” by Kristen van Schie