CBC big winner of Geminis for news, sports and documentaries
CBC Television’s The National was named best newscast and also took home a trophy for best reportage at the Gemini News, Sports and Documentary Gala on Monday evening.
Two other CBC TV shows earned three awards each at the ceremony รณ current affairs show The Fifth Estate and Hockey Night in Canada.
The National’s Adrienne Arsenault, Erin Boudreau and Richard Devey won the Gemini for best news magazine segment for “Moshe and Munir,” about the friendship between a Palestinian and an Israeli.
The Fifth Estate was named best information series, and host Hana Gartner won the Gemini for best host or interviewer in a current affairs series.
Avi Lev won the award for best picture editing for his work on The Fifth Estate episode “Brian Mulroney: The Unauthorized Chapter.”
Hockey Night in Canada’s coverage of its annual outdoor game was named best live sporting event, with Geminis going to Sherali Najak, Brian Spear and Doug Walton. Inside Hockey: The Aud won the award for best sports feature segment.
Don Wittman, the veteran CBC sportscaster who died in January in Winnipeg, won the Gemini for best play-by-play announcing for his work on Hockey Night in Canada.
Wittman joined CBC Sports in 1961 and went on to call some of the most vicious, arresting and triumphant moments in Canadian sports history. He worked with Hockey Night in Canada from 1979 until the 2007-08 season.
Another veteran CBC News reporter, Don Newman, senior parliamentary editor and host of CBC Newsworld’s Politics, was honoured with the Gordon Sinclair Award from the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.
Newman, who joined CBC in 1976 as its Washington correspondent, began reporting on Ottawa in 1981.
The award is given annually for outstanding contribution to Canadian television journalism.
Other winners included:
– Pierre McGuire, best game analyst, IIHF World Junior Hockey Gold Final: Canada vs. Sweden, TSN
– Bob McKenzie best studio analyst, IIHF World Junior Hockey Gold Final: Canada vs. Sweden, TSN.
– Diamond Road, best documentary series, TVO.
– Confessions of an Innocent Man, best biography documentary program, CTV.
Confessions of an Innocent Man was a documentary about William Sampson, a dual Canadian-British citizen who was imprisoned and tortured in Saudi Arabia after being accused of orchestrating a car bombing.
In June 2006, CTV News announced it would no longer nominate its news programs for the Gemini Awards, saying too much work was involved in the nomination process.
CBC’s The National had nine nominations and The Fifth Estate had 11 heading into the Geminis. Winners in some categories will be declared later in the week.
The Gemini gala for lifestyle, children’s and youth winners will be held Tuesday and the gala for drama, variety and comedy will follow on Wednesday.
The main Gemini show is to be held in Toronto on Nov. 28.
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