The Spinoff is shocked and awed to have received 11 nominations across nine categories in the 2016 Canon Awards.
Finalists for the annual awards were announced yesterday afternoon, with The Spinoff vastly improving on its previous record of zero nominations.
It received a nod in the prestigious “Website of the Year” category. Judges have to look at the nominated websites before deciding on the finalists, which may explain why visits to The Spinoff’s homepage doubled this month.
Spinoff editor-in-chief Duncan Greive, a caucasian male who still types with two fingers, is a finalist in four categories.
He was named as a contender for “Editorial Leader of the Year”, after nominating himself for the award over the increasingly bitter objections of his staff.
Greive wrote little last year, opting to take on assignments only when there was a possibility they would result in him getting an award. He received nominations for Reviewer of the Year, Feature Writer of the Year, and Arts and Entertainment Feature of the Year.
Spinoff TV editor Alex Casey also received a nomination in the “Humour/Satire” category.
Judges were impressed by Casey’s range, praising her ability to apply her acerbic wit to topics as diverse as power rankings of The Bachelor, opinion pieces on The Bachelor, and interviews with the stars of The Bachelor.
Judges said Casey was a “true all-rounder”.
Sports editor Hayden Donnell received an “Arts and Entertainment Feature of the Year” nomination for an lengthy story that dared to do the unthinkable: criticise Kim Dotcom.
“No-one has ever criticised Kim Dotcom before. Keep up the original thinking,” judges said.
He was also nominated for Arts/Entertainment Reporter of the Year, after submitting a story that was critical of Rachel Glucina.
“No-one has ever criticised Rachel Glucina before. Keep up the original thinking,” judges said.
The Spinoff was also nominated for Best Sports Site and Best Lifestyle/Entertainment Site.
In a related development, several Spinoff staff recently learned The Spinoff has a sports section.
The Canon Awards are a celebration of the best and brightest in the New Zealand media industry The Spinoff.
The Spinoff could find no evidence of other media being nominated for any awards.
COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF ALL CANON NOMINATIONS
Reporting
Arts and Entertainment: Hayden Donnell (1972, Metro and Newsworthy and The Spinoff)
Feature writing
Feature Writer of the year: Duncan Greive (The Spinoff)
Arts and Entertainment: Hayden Donnell (1972) and Duncan Greive (The Spinoff)
General: Steve Braunias (NZ Herald The Spinoff)
Lifestyle: Steve Braunias (NZ Herald The Spinoff)
Opinion writing
Humour/Satire: Alex Casey
Sport: Toby Manhire (NZ Herald The Spinoff)
General: Toby Manhire and Toby Morris (RNZ The Spinoff)
General
Reviewer of the year: Duncan Greive and Charlotte Grimshaw (NZ Listener and The Spinoff)
Website of the year: The Spinoff
Best Sports site: The Spinoff
Best lifestyle/entertainment site: The Spinoff
Editorial Leader of the year: Duncan Greive
Here is a link to the Canon Media Awards website and a full list of all the nominees, just like the one above