Sibling rivalry will dominate this year’s Gemini Awards, with multiple nominations from the same networks, the same production companies and the same shows. CBC and CBC Newsworld scored 156 nominations, while CTV and its speciality networks scored 99 nominations, 81 of those for the CTV Network. Global Television scored 34 nods and Chum Television is up for seven.

CTV’s Nuremberg, from Alliance Atlantis, leads the overall Gemini nominations with 12. It will face off in the best dramatic miniseries category against CTV’s Haven (with seven nominations overall), also from AAC, and CBC’s Revenge of the Land. Haven is about an American journalist fighting to save Jews during the Holocaust, while Nuremberg is about the post-WWII war crimes trials. Revenge of the Land is set on the Canadian Prairies at the turn of the century.

Global’s new crime series Blue Murder and CBC’s long-standing coroner series Da Vinci’s Inquest, both with 10 noms and both produced through Barna-Alper Productions, will battle it out for the best dramatic series Gemini. (Da Vinci’s is a coproduction between Barna-Alper and Haddock Entertainment.)

The other three best dramatic series noms are AAC productions or coproductions. The group includes CTV’s The Associates, The Outer Limits (AAC with Trilogy Entertainment, also on CTV) and the cancelled Drop the Beat (AAC with Back Alley Film Productions, in association with CBC).

‘This is a wonderful year for us,’ says Maria Topalovich, president and CEO of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. ‘There was substantial growth from both Eastern and Western Canada and more than 50% of nominees involved independents.’

Three productions in the top-10 nominated shows are produced in Vancouver: Da Vinci’s Inquest, The Outer Limits and Cold Squad. Meanwhile, Blessed Stranger: After Flight 111 comes from Halifax’s Big Motion Pictures. And Salter Street Films, also based in Halifax, counts comedy series This Hour has 22 Minutes and Made in Canada as well as TV movie Chasing Cain among its nominees.

Drop the Beat, one of the most talked about Canadian series of recent years, sees itself nominated despite its cancellation after two seasons. The show revolved around a couple of twentysomethings producing their own campus radio show. It saw the convergence of six different media on television, including an interactive website where viewers could chat with each other and the show’s stars.

Canadian television may not have been ready for the contemporary issues and hip-hop environment of the show (now in reruns on Showcase), says coproducer Adrienne Mitchell of Back Alley. ‘CBC doesn’t have a younger audience demographic and maybe there was more time needed to build an audience. A young audience doesn’t habitually gravitate to the CBC.’

‘There’s an immediacy to hip-hop in terms of issues that people experience… there is not a lot on TV that deals with this,’ adds Back Alley’s co-principal Janis Lundman.

Innovative lifestyle programming such as The New Music, FashionTelevision, shiftTV and QT – Queer Television all received nods this year. ‘The diversity is a reflection of our membership,’ says Topalovich. ‘There is a lot of niching that is happening and that is going to increase with the new channels.’

Rick Mercer’s Talking to Americans from Salter Street, another multiple nominee, quickly declined the honor in light of the World Trade Centre attack. The show was nominated for best music, variety program or series, and Mercer was nominated for best performance or host in a variety program or series.

‘While I am honoured that the program has received these nominations, I feel that this is not a time to be making light of the differences between two nations but rather a time to offer our unconditional support to our neighbours, friends and relatives to the South,’ Mercer said in a statement.

Along with the multiple nominations, which tend to be signature to the annual TV awards, this 16th year sees the introduction of a juried award for most innovative website, as well as the inaugural Gemini Humanitarian Award, which will be given to screenwriter Donald Martin for his work with Foster Parents Plan of Canada.

The website award is the yang to last year’s introduction of a most popular website prize selected by the public through Internet voting. ‘We wanted to create an award that would be judged by peers and that recognizes innovation and the technical side of things,’ says Topalovich. The Academy will increase its work and recognition of Web and interactive media in coming years, she adds.

Along with the Web award, the public will also pick one of six series for the Royal Canadian Mint Viewer’s Choice award. Nominees are The Associates, Blackfly, Comedy Now!, Da Vinci’s Inquest, The Outer Limits and Royal Canadian Air Farce.

In an interesting twist, Air Farce is not nominated for a best comedy series Gemini. It is up for best writing in a comedy series or variety program for the episode entitled ‘Canada: a mildly informative, not overly long people’s history.’ Canada, A People’s History, the original critically acclaimed series from CBC, received three nods.

The awards’ Industry Gala will be hosted by comedian Sean Cullen on Sunday, Oct. 28 and will recognize talent in craft, program and performance categories. It will air on Rogers. Mike Bullard, host of Open Mike with Mike Bullard, will host the televised gala. CBC will carry the gala live on Monday, Oct. 29 at 8 p.m.

-www.academy.ca