SGU nabs 16 Leo nominations

It’s that time of year again!  It’s a special time when members of the British Columbia film and television industry cross their collective fingers in the hopes that they may soon be receiving one of the province’s most distinguished entertainment recognitions:  a Leo Award.

The Leo Awards, first established in 1999, were created as a way to provide support and recognition to all members of the British Columbia entertainment industry.  Awards are given to actors, directors, producers, writers and other key areas that showcase the best the province has to offer — and once again, the Stargate franchise is leading the charge.

Stargate Universe, now in full-swing production on its second season, closely follows Sanctuary with an outstanding 16 nominations this year.  (Sanctuary earned 17.) The series itself is nominated in the “Best Dramatic Series” category.

Actor Patrick Gilmore (“Dale Volker”) received a “Best Supporting Male Performance” nomination for his work on “Pain,” which premiers in the U.S. and Canada this Friday.  Julia Benson‘s (“Vanessa James”) performance in “Pain” was also nominated in the “Best Supporting Female” category, as was Jennifer Spence (“Lisa Park”) for her turn in the November episode “Life.”

The bulk of the nominations go to those working behind the camera.

Robert Cooper and Peter Deluise both received nominations for “Best Direction” for their visions in the episodes “Human” and “Light,” respectively.  “Light” also earned a screenwriting nomination for series co-creator Brad Wright.

Two cinematography nominations were handed out:  Jim Menard for “Light,” and Michael Blundell for “Human.” Editors Brad Rines, Mike Banas, and Rick Martin were presented with nominations for their work on various episodes.  The visual effects teams for the episodes “Air” and “Space” were both recognized for their contributions with nominations, as was James Robbins for his production design on the series pilot.

Finally, James Bamford received a nomination for “Best Stunt Coordination” for his work on “Air.”

Sanctuary leads all programs this year with 17 nominations for its second season, including Best Program, plus nominations for direction (two), screenwriting (Alan McCullough and Damian Kindler, both former Stargate writers), editing, make-up, production and costume design, and visual effects.  The show’s actors were nominated in the categories of Guest Performance by a Male (SG-1‘s Michael Shanks, for his role in the episode “Penance”), Supporting Performance by a Male (Atlantis veterans Christopher Heyerdahl and Ryan Robbins), Lead Performance by a Male (Robin Dunne), and Lead Performance by a Female (Amanda Tapping).

The Web-based series Riese, which co-stars several Stargate veterans, was also nominated for Best Web Series.

Congratulations to the entire Stargate Universe team are in order, as the number of nominations is impressive for a freshman series.  In contrast, Smallville received just six nominations this year, while fellow freshman series V garnered just two.  Congrats are also in order to Sanctuary for their outstanding work.

The Leo Awards presentations will be held the first week of June in Vancouver, at the Westin Bayshore Hotel.

(Thanks to Denise, Scott, Tanith, and Sheena for the tip!)