Last night’s Canadian Screen Awards gala presentation, which was broadcast live on CBC-TV, topped off an incredible week with CBC winning the majority of the television awards. CBC’s original hit comedy Schitt’s Creek, received three major honours including Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Comedic Role for Eugene Levy, Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Comedic Role for Catherine O’Hara and Best Comedy Series, bringing its total number of awards to nine. Critically acclaimed mini-series The Book of Negroes finished off its incredible run with the award for Best TV Movie or Limited Series, for a total of 11 wins. Yannick Bisson, from the popular period drama Murdoch Mysteries, took home his first Fans’ Choice Award. Over the course of the three-day gala events, the public broadcaster won a grand total of 42 awards.
“It’s been a remarkable week for CBC,” said Heather Conway, executive vice president, English services, CBC. “These awards reflect the vision and hard work of our programming, news and marketing teams, and I’m so excited to see such a strong showing across the board. It is important for CBC as the public broadcaster to connect with Canadians and provide our best creators with all the support they need to make great content.”
Highlights for Canadian Screen Week include:
- CBC’s comedy programming dominated in this category winning 12 of the available awards, with nine for Schitt’s Creek and three for Rick Mercer Report.
-CBC also led the competition with the most awards in drama, earning 12 accolades, including 11 for The Book of Negroes and one for X Company.
-CBC News took home eight of the available awards including the Best Cross-Platform Project: Non-Fiction for CBC’s reporting on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Adrienne Arsenault was recognized for her Emmy® Award-winning Ebola coverage, Rosemary Barton was honoured as host of Power & Politics, Ian Hanomansing for Best News Anchor (national) and Andrew Chang for Best News Anchor (local), among others.
- Other notable CBC News wins include the Barbara Sears Award for Best Editorial Research (the fifth estate: The Mob and Michael Degroote) and Best News or Information Program (CBC News: Marketplace - License to Deceive).
- CBC won more awards for documentary than any other broadcaster, taking home five including three for The Nature of Things.
- CBC Sports’ Andi Petrillo was the first female broadcaster in Canada to be recognized with an award for Sports Host in a Sports Program or Series.
- Leading up to Canadian Screen Week, Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara received special recognition with The Legacy Award, and the This Hour Has 22 Minutes cast received the Academy Icon Award. Three-time Gemini Award-winning producer Mark Starowicz was this year’s recipient of the Gordon Sinclair Award for Broadcast Journalism.
2016 Canadian Screen Award wins for the CBC on Sunday, March 13, 2016 include:
Schitt’s Creek
(Not A Real Company Productions Inc.)
Eugene Levy, Daniel Levy, Andrew Barnsley, Fred Levy, Ben Feigin, Mike Short, Kevin White, Colin Brunton
Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Comedic Role
Schitt’s Creek - Carl’s Funeral
Eugene Levy
Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Comedic Role
Schitt’s Creek - Don’t Worry, It’s His Sister
Catherine O’Hara
Best TV Movie or Limited Series
Sponsor | Entertainment One
The Book of Negroes
(Entertainment One, Conquering Lion Pictures, Out of Africa Entertainment)
Damon D’Oliveira, Clement Virgo, Margaret O’Brien, Carrie Stein, Lance Samuels, Bill Niven, Michael Levine
-30-
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A space for us all is CBC/Radio-Canada’s strategy to transform the public broadcaster, and ensure that it continues to fulfill its mandate for Canadians, now and for future generations. Through to 2020, the Corporation will increase its investment in prime-time television programming and continue to create radio programs of the highest quality, while promoting the development of digital and mobile platforms and content.
For more information including series synopses, press releases, hi-res images, video clips and bios, please visit the CBC Media Centre at cbc.ca/mediacentre .
For more information, please contact:
Elizabeth Reid
publicist, CBC-TV, CBC Radio 2 & CBC Music
416.205.2665 (o) / 647.981.7059 (m)
