Variety leads the field in nominations for the 17th annual National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards. The list includes a bid for best entertainment website, four contenders for journalist of the year honors, a photo journalist of the year mention for veteran staffer Dan Doperalski and a nonfiction book of the year nom for co-Editor in Chief Ramin Setoodeh.
Variety nominations are spread widely across the masthead, recognizing a range of journalists as well as the photography, illustration and design of the weekly print magazine and social media efforts.
Nominated for print journalist of the year are executive editor Brent Lang, Tatiana Siegel, executive editor of film and media, and Chris Willman, chief music critic and senior music writer. Clayton Davis, senior awards editor, is up for online journalist of the year. The eligibility period for the kudos administered by the Los Angeles Press Club is July 1, 2023 through June 30.
Willman is also a contender for film critic of the year in the under 1,000 words category; chief film critic Owen Gleiberman is in the running for film critic of the year in the over 1,000 words heat. Jem Aswad, executive editor of music, is nommed for music critic. Variety TV critic Aramide Tinubu is up for theater/performing arts critic.
Setoodeh is recognized for his 2024 HarperCollins release “Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass.”
The host team behind Variety‘s “Awards Circuit” podcast — Michael Schneider, Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangcay, Jenelle Riley and Emily Longeretta — are up for anchor/host honors in the radio/podcast field.
Variety‘s biannual “Actors on Actors” franchise is nommed in the photo essay field for the December 2023 Season 20 edition focusing on Oscar contenders, yielding mentions for photographer Alexi Lubomirski and Variety‘s visual director Jennifer Dorn and creative director Haley Kluge. Dorn, Kluge and photographer Michael Buckner landed a bid for best news photo for the dramatic shot of SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher that ran as Variety‘s print magazine cover in July 2023 as the actors strike began.
“Actors on Actors” Season 20 also earned recognition for social media chief Rachel Seo and social media coordinator Julia MacCary for their work in promoting the multimedia series.
Variety‘s striking Cannes 2024 print magazine cover featuring “Furiosa” star Anya Taylor-Joy landed a spot in the cover photo category. The December 2023 themed issue “The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time,” shepherded by chief correspondent Daniel D’Addario, is up for best entertainment publication.
Siegel is also a contender in the celebrity investigative story category for her 2023 cover story about problems within the Marvel universe: “Crisis at Marvel: Jonathan Majors Back-Up Plans, ‘The Marvels’ Reshoots, Reviving Original Avengers and More Issues Revealed.”
Jennifer Maas, senior writer, TV and video games, grabbed a mention for her July 2023 cover story “Peak TV Has Peaked” as well as in the podcast interview category for her “Strictly Business” sitdown with Xbox Studios president Matt Booty.
Associate music editor Thania Garcia is up for business tech/design/arts story for her August 2023 story “Drake’s Team on Bringing the ‘It’s All a Blur’ Tour’s Surreal Staging to Arenas: ‘Like Figuring Out a Rubik’s Cube.’” Garcia is also in the hunt for the diversity in music/performing arts category for her March 2024 story “Meet the Women Managing Música Mexicana’s Breakout Stars, From Xavi to Yahritza Y Su Esencia and More.” Variety.com editor William Earl is up in the same category for “‘Whose Fault Is it That You’re Gay?’: Wild Questions Fuel Episodes of ‘That’s a Gay Ass Podcast’ About Sexual Awakenings and Queer Superpowers”
Angelique Jackson is a contender in the diversity in TV/film category for her November 2023 story “How ‘The Marvels’ Got Its Blerd Girl Energy.”
Variety took three of the five spots in the general news, print or magazine category:
Brent Lang, Tatiana Siegel, Matt Donnelly: “Showstopper! Strikes Plunge Hollywood Into Chaos With Pricey Movie Delays, Pay Battles and AI Anxiety”
Tatiana Siegel: “A Fired ‘Scream’ Star, Clients Booted From Agencies and a Secret Tom Cruise Meeting: Inside Hollywood’s Divide Over Israel”
Adam B. Vary: “Michael Jackson Biopic Team Touts ‘Unbiased’ Look at Pop Star; ‘Leaving Neverland’ Director Calls Script Draft ‘Startlingly Disingenuous.’”
Among other Variety nominations:
Kate Aurthur: “Carey Mulligan Never Felt Like a ‘Proper Actor.’ Then Came ‘Maestro’: ‘I’m Going to Absolutely Do It All’”
Rebecca Rubin: “With ‘Fair Play,’ Director Chloe Domont Creates the Kind of Steamy, Psycho-Sexual Thriller We Haven’t Seen Since the ’90s”
Emily Longeretta: “‘It Was Never My Intention to Be a Heartthrob’: Josh Hartnett on Finding His Focus, Shedding the Darkness of ‘Black Mirror’ and That ‘Bats— Crazy’ ‘Trap’ Script”
Gene Maddaus: “Chris Keyser’s Gift for Rhetoric on Display in WGA Strike: ‘He’s Our Churchill’”
Katcy Stephan: “‘MoviePass, MovieCrash’: Founder Stacy Spikes on Mitch Lowe, Racial Bias and Where the Company Stands Today.”
Jon Burlingame: “‘Law & Order’ Composer Mike Post Creates New Bluegrass and Blues Album”
Jenelle Riley: Recreating the Pivotal ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ Dog Scene with Canine Star Messi”
Michael Schneider: “Repeats, Reality and ‘Yellowstone’: How Network TV Is Marketing Fall Lineups Without Many Scripted Favorites”
Ethan Shanfeld: “Do Trigger Warnings Need Spoiler Alerts?”
Naman Ramachandran: “Indian Documentaries Ride Global Wave as Local Funding and Distribution Concerns Remain”
Leo Barraclough: “How ‘Doctor Who’ Exec Producers Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner Helped Transform South Wales Into a Buzzing Hive of Production”
J. Kim Murphy: “Roger Corman Gets a Hero’s Welcome at Beyond Fest With Protégés Ron Howard, Joe Dante and More Reliving Big Breaks and Disastrous Test Screenings”
Pat Saperstein: “‘Dark Winds’ Director Chris Eyre on Why Native Stories Are Finally Getting Made: ‘This Door Is Blown Open’”
Brian Steinberg: “Streaming News Threw Kasie Hunt Some Curves. Now She’s Straightening Them Out”
Ellise Shafer: “Peter Doherty and Katia deVidas on Making Doc ‘Stranger in My Own Skin’ About the ‘Terror and Danger’ of Drug Addiction — and Falling in Love in the Process”
Todd Gilchrist: “Director Martin Brest Revisits the Triumphs of ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ and ‘Midnight Run,’ and Reflects On His Post-‘Gigli’ Hollywood Exile”
Angelique Jackson: “Ava DuVernay Unpacks ‘Origin’: ‘You’ll Sit Through Three Hours’ of Oppenheimer’s Process. Will You Sit Through Two Hours of Isabel Wilkerson’s?”
(Pictured: Variety‘s Actors on Actors, Season 20 with Margot Robbie and Cillian Murphy)