– Dodi robb, Anna Sandor and Bill Donovan will be recipients of the John Drainie Award, the Margaret Collier Award and the first Academy Achievement Award respectively at the 10th Annual Gemini Awards. Robb is being recognized for her significant contribution to broadcasting in Canada through the development of programs such as The Journal, Marketplace and The Kids of Degrassi Street. For a written body of work including King of Kensington, Hangin’ In, Seeing Things and Charlie Grant’s War, Sandor will accept the Collier Award. Donovan will be the first recipient of the new award recognizing exceptional contribution to the Canadian tv industry for his influence on the growth of indie production in Atlantic Canada.

Contenders for the second annual Chrysler’s Canada’s Choice Award to be presented at the Geminis, March 3, are the shows which drew the largest broadcast audience nationally as calculated by NTI People Meters in each of 10 categories. The nominees are: Butterbox Babies, Million Dollar Babies, Due South, Royal Canadian Air Farce, the fifth estate, The Planets, Witness, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Ready or Not, The 1995 Molson Indy Toronto, and Brian Orser, Blame It On The Blues.

– Steven Bochco, creator and executive producer of Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, NYPD Blue and Murder One, will be the 1996 recipient of the Banff Television Festival’s Award of Excellence.

– Atlantis/Troika Films’ tv movie The War Between Us picked up two special awards at the 36th Monte Carlo TV Festival; the Monaco Red Cross Award (for the film best representing the humanitarian ideals of the Red Cross) and the UNDA Silver Dove Award (for the film best illustrating the spirit of the International Catholic Association of Radio and Television). The other Canadian winner was cbc’s Little Criminals for best tv movie.

– The two most recent documentary acquisitions by Jan Rofekamp’s Films Transit have been nominated for Oscar Awards. The wgbh film The Battle Over Citizen Kane will be launched at the Berlin Film Festival next week while Fiddlefest, a feature length film by Alan Miller, profiles classical music teachers and students in a New York ghetto. Rofekamp has the international rights to both properties.