Vancouver: Temple Street Productions, Nelvana and Devine Entertainment are among the Canadian nominees at this year’s annual Daytime Emmy Awards in May.

Devine tops the list with nine nominations for two films – Galileo: On the Shoulders of Giants and Edison: The Wizard of Light. Each film, part of The Inventors’ Specials which dramatizes the lives of historical figures and airs on hbo and Family Channel, is up for outstanding children’s special.

David Devine and Richard Mozer produced the series.

While Edison received nominations for its lead actors Kenneth Welsh and Michael Suchanek in the category of outstanding performer in a children’s special, Galileo writer Heather Conkie earned a nomination in the category of outstanding writing for a children’s special.

The Devine projects also received nods for a number of technical achievement awards including single camera photography (Rick Maguire – Galileo), single camera editing (Jeff Warren, Mike Lee, Rik Morden – Edison), sound mixing (Daniel Pellerin, Andrew Tay, Tony Van Den Akker – Edison), David Appleby, Tim O’Connell, Todd Beckett, Tony Van Den Akker – Galileo).

‘I’m really shocked,’ says David Devine, who won a Prime Time Emmy in 1993 for the children’s program Beethoven Lives Upstairs. ‘There was no publicity, no marketing, no extraordinary efforts. These films were simply submitted [for consideration].’

After 10 years of successful producing for hbo and Disney, he’s hoping that the nominations this year pave the way for Devine to produce an original series for a Canadian network. ‘It will be easier to get meetings,’ he says.

Other Canadian nominees include The Sweetest Gift, produced by Toronto’s Temple Street for Showtime. The program earned nominations for outstanding children’s special, directing in a children’s special (Stuart Margolin) and performance in a children’s special (American Diahann Carroll).

The television special – which has already earned acting awards for its young ensemble cast from the Young Artists Awards in l.a. – is about two neighboring families divided by race that are brought together when their children’s love bridges the gap.

And the 3D animated series Rolie Polie Olie, produced by Nelvana for cbc and The Disney Channel, earned one nomination in the category special class – animated program. The series, created for children aged two to five, is about a rambunctious boy robot who lives in a round world.

At dual ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles, the craft service Daytime Emmy awards will be handed out May 15 and the televised awards on cbs will be handed out May 21.