CBC’s The Porter and Sort Of are among the 37 homegrown nominees for the 2023 Rockie Awards International Program Competition, which will take place during the Banff World Media Festival (BANFF) in Banff, Alta., in June.

Produced by Winnipeg-based Inferno Pictures and Toronto’s Sphere Media, the The Porter (pictured) will compete in the scripted Drama Series: English Language category. Joining the historical drama, which CBC recently revealed will not be returning for a second season, are HBO’s The White Lotus, House of the Dragon and Euphoria, as well as BBC One’s This is Going to Hurt.

Elsewhere in the scripted stream, Sort Of (Sphere Media) picked up a nod for Comedy Series: English Language against BBC’s Am I Being Unreasonable? and Cunk on Earth, as well as FX’s Atlanta and What We Do in the Shadows. 

Canadian productions and coproductions landed seven more Rockies nods than last year, making Canada the third-most nominated country for this year’s awards behind the U.S. at 41 and the U.K. at 52. A total of 141 nominees hail from 29 countries, according to a news release.

The BBC repeated last year’s results as the most-nominated company with 21 nods, while FX Networks, Warner Bros. Discovery and National Geographic/Disney Branded Television earned five nominations apiece. 

The Rockie Awards will be presented in-person at the festival, as well as livestreamed, in a ceremony on June 12. BANFF runs from June 11 to 14.

Canadian production companies did well in the Lifestyle category with five out of the six nods, including CBC Gem’s The Big Sex Talk (Noble Television Inc.) and Discovery+’s Trixie Motel (Scott Brothers Entertainment), as well as MTV’s Hip Hop My House (Anaid Productions), HGTV and Hulu’s Pamela’s Garden of Eden (Fireworks Media Group), and CBC and Fuse’s True Dating Stories (LaRue Entertainment).

Canadian productions swept the Short Form Non-Fiction category with Snapchat docuseries Reclaim(ed) (Eagle Vision), Canadiana (The Canadiana Project, The Bell Fund, Canada History Fund, Canada Media Fund, Parks Canada), Magical Caresses (National Film Board of Canada), Pa t’mentir (Ain’t Lying) (Trio Orange) as well as Restaurants, After It All (Le resto d’apres) (Picbois Productions) picking up nominations.

Canada is also well-represented in Short Form Fiction category, claiming four out of the six nominations. Among them is Garbage (Vidanges), with Koze Productions, tou.tv, Fond Telus, Fond Bell, SODEC, Crédit d’impot, KO Distribution all named in the nomination; Geomapping Love (Géolocaliser l’amour), which has V10Media, Bell Fund, ICI.TOU.TV, HG Distribution named in the nomination; Martine at the beach (Martine à la plage) (KOTV); and Canada-U.K. copro Affairs of the Art (Beryl Productions, National Film Board of Canada).

CBC’s Three Tall Women (Melbar Entertainment Group, Stratford Festival) from Canadian filmmaker Barry Avrich is up for a trophy in the Feature-Length Film category.

Canada snagged two nominations in the Sports Documentary category with Ice-Breaker: The ’72 Summit Series (Adobe Productions, White Pine Pictures) as well as The Grizzlie Truth (Crossover Films, Five One Films, Grand Scheme, Christie Street Creative, Uninterrupted Canada).

The Live-Action: Youth category includes Ghostwriter (Sinking Ship Entertainment, Sesame Workshop) while Odd Squad (Sinking Ship Entertainment, Fred Rogers Productions) picked up a nod in the Live Action: Children category.

Canada’s The Postman From Space (La Pastèque, URBANIA, Radio-Canada) and Canada-Finland-France-U.K’s The Unstoppable Yellow Yeti (Zodiak Kids & Family, Gigglebug) are both nominated in Animation: Children with Dino Ranch (Boat Rocker, Industrial Brothers) nominated in Animation: Preschool.

Canada had three nods in the Interactive Children and Youth Content category with Planet Ice AR (Sinking Ship Entertainment, Canadian Museum of Nature), Canada-U.S. copros Artifact Adventure (Sinking Ship Entertainment, Fred Rogers Productions, PBS Kids) and Rosie’s Rules: Slime Store (PBS Kids, 9 Story Media Group, Curious Media).

In the Arts and Entertainment stream, CBC Gem’s Lido TV (Visitor Media) and Historia Series+’s The Devil’s Lot: So Help Me Cod! (Le lot du diable: la conquête de la mer) (Zone3) are nominated in the Comedy and Variety and Competition Series and Game shows categories, respectively.

The Crime and Investigative category include Evil By Design: Exposing Peter Nygard (Blue Ant Studios, Blue Ant International Limited, STARZ, CBC) as well as The Talented Mr. Rosenberg (Melbar Entertainment Group).

Eternal Spring (Lofty Sky Pictures Inc.) picked up a nod in Social Issues and Current Affairs while Obscene: The Dublin Scandal (BBC Studios, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Sounds) was nominated in Podcast Non-Fiction.

Audible Canada netted two nominations in Podcast Fiction for Mistletoe Murders (Headspinner Productions) and Wildlife Confidential (Antica Productions).

Stuff The British Stole (Wooden Horse, WildBear Entertainment, Cream Productions) was nominated for Arts and Culture.

True Story (Eagle Vision, Corus, History Channel) and Canada-France-U.K. copro The Black West: A Counter History of the Wild West (Black Far West: Une contre-histoire de l’Ouest) (CAPA Presse, ARTE France, Blue Ant International, Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée, Procirep-Angoa) were both nominated in the History and Biography category.

The Grand Jury Prize will be awarded to the the top-scoring programs across the entire field of nominees. Jury members include Mo Abudu, CEO, EbonyLife Media; Peter Gal, chief creative officer, television, DreamWorks Animation; Alice Dickens-Koblin, SVP, head of unscripted programming, Starz; Cynthia Kennedy, VP, distribution, Incendo and Quebecor Content; Mark Linsey managing director, scripted, BBC Studios; Jacqueline Sacerio, EVP, co-head of scripted development, Entertainment One; and Beatrice Springborn, president, UCP and Universal International Studios.

Also up for grabs is a $25,000 Rogers Prize for Excellence in Canadian Content, awarded to the top Canadian production, as well as the Prix Francophone for the top French-language production.

A total of 27 awards will be handed out the category streams of Documentary and Factual, Arts and Entertainment, Children and Youth, Scripted, and Podcast. Several Rockies Gala Awards are also yet to be announced, said the release. 

Photo courtesy of CBC