Vancouver: DaVinci’s Inquest – a cbc series about a gritty coroner – came out the leader of the pack when it earned 11 Leo nominations. Feature film Rupert’s Land was a close second with 10 nominations.

The big surprises in the event were the absence of bctv/chek-tv and the low-profile showing for Nettie Wild’s successful documentary A Place Called Chiapas.

The Leos awards – to be held over two nights May 8 and May 15 – recognize b.c. talent no matter whether the film or television production is service or domestic. As a result, work on Canadian projects competes directly with non-Canadian mows and series.

In all, there were 74 separate program titles nominated for 52 production and craft awards.

In its 11 nods, DaVinci’s Inquest (Haddock Entertainment/Barna-Alper) was nominated for best series, writing, directing and series performance. Dead Man’s Gun (Vidatron Entertainment) and Outer Limits (Alliance Atlantis Communications) each earned seven nominations and Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy (Milestone Entertainment) and Cold Squad (Keatley MacLeod Productions) each earned six.

Rupert’s Land (Cadence Entertainment), in earning 10 nominations, was recognized in the best picture, director, screenwriting and film performance categories.

Other films with multiple nominations include Dirty (Stephen Hegyes Production) with nine nominations and Heart of the Sun (Makara Pictures) with six nominations.

Among the documentaries, Voices of Ayacucho, Peru (Avanti Pictures) and Baboon Tales (Tamarin Productions) lead the list with six nominations each.

Genie winner A Place Called Chiapas was down the list with three technical nominations.

A crowded short drama category saw Grave Decisions (Shadow Films) emerge with six nominations and The Alley (Back Alley Films) with five.

Cosmic Highway (Orchard Productions) was the top nominations-getter in the Information Television Series categories. Inform (Urban Media) earned five nominations.

Conspicuously absent from the television news field are bctv and chek-tv.

Johnny Michel, vp of brand communications at the two wic-owned stations, says there was no time to enter the Leos when the stations were also entering the cab and CanPro contests. It was not a snub, he insists, just a question of priorities.

Global News at Six and cbc’s Broadcast One received three nominations each, while vtv’s Live@6 received four.

The gala event May 15 will be hosted by Christine Lippa and Dean Haglund.