Three Canadian series have received nominations for this year’s International Emmy Awards.

The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences unveiled the nominations for its annual honours on Thursday (Sept. 25), which saw a record-high 26 countries nominated for awards across 16 categories. The winners will be announced at a gala ceremony in New York City on Nov. 24.

Insight Productions’ Big Brother Canada is up for the Non-Scripted Entertainment award. It is competing against the United Arab Emirates’ Love is Blind: Habibi (Imagic, Netflix), Mexico’s ¿Quién es la Máscara? (The Masked Singer) (TelevisaUnivisión, Endemol Shine Boomdog) and Denmark’s Shaolin Heroes (Metronome Productions, Banijay, TV 2 Danmark).

Hosted by Arisa Cox, the Canadian edition of the Banijay Entertainment format aired on the Corus Entertainment-owned network Global. The Emmy nomination is for the show’s 12th season, which was the last before its cancellation.

Erin Brock, Insight’s co-chief content officer, tells Playback Daily that receiving a nomination for the final season is a bittersweet feeling.

“I’m sad that the show has gone from our TV culture in Canada, because I think it was an incredible piece of TV culture here,” says Brock. “It was also a training ground for amazing young talent in this country. I feel the hole of the show being gone, but it being recognized feels like such a victory at the same time.”

“To be recognized like this means the world to all the people who have put their blood, sweat and tears into this project,” she adds. “Whether they only worked on season one or two, or they worked on season 12.”

Two Canadian series are nominated for Short-Form Series: KOTV’s The Mediator (La médiatrice) and LoCo Motion Pictures’ My Dead Mom. They are competing against Hong Kong and China’s Beyond Dancing (Radio Television Hong Kong) and Argentina’s Todo se Transforma (Warner Bros. Discovery, Buffalo Producciones).

Streaming on ICI Tou.TV’s Vero tv, The Mediator stars Mylène Mackay as a couples counsellor who begins avenging the unjustly treated victims of bad breakups after being cheated on by her partner of 20 years. Other cast members include Ariane Castellanos and Maxime de Cotret.

The series is directed by Isabelle Garneau, and is executive-produced by Louis-Philippe Drolet, Louis Morissette, Marie-Hélène Lebeau-Taschereau and Mélanie Viau. KOTV fiction VP and partner Lebeau-Taschereau created the series alongside Marie-Élène Grégoire, a KOTV in-house author.

“We are thrilled and deeply honoured by this Emmy Award nomination for The Mediator,” said Lebeau-Taschereau in a statement to Playback Daily. “It highlights the global impact of our work and recognizes the dedication of our team to telling powerful, universal human stories. A massive congratulations to everyone involved.”

The Crave original My Dead Mom stars Lauren Collins as a woman struggling to move on after the death of her mother, played by Megan Follows. The cast also features David Reale, Daniel Maslany, Daniel Kash, Rainbow Sun Francks, Naomi Snieckus and guest star Matt Murray.

The series is created by Wendy Litner and directed by Chandler Levack (Mile End Kicks). Litner also serves as an executive producer alongside LoCo Motion founder and president Lauren Corber. Palmer Baranek is the series’ supervising producer. My Dead Mom‘s development was supported by the Canada Media Fund.

“This marks our team’s second International Emmy nomination, following How to Buy a Baby, and we are so proud to once again celebrate Canadian storytelling internationally,” said Corber. “This wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the Independent Production Fund, Bell Fund, Ontario Creates, our broadcaster Crave, and our distributor, Blue Ant Rights.”

Image courtesy of Corus Entertainment