Variety earns 121 National Arts & Entertainment Award nominations

Variety was nominated for 121 national arts and entertainment journalism awards, surpassing the publication’s previous record of 99 nominations in 2021.

Variety was nominated for Best Entertainment Publication for its “Leaving the Kingdom” issue, released December 21, 2021, featuring outgoing Disney CEO Bob Iger. Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Chris Willman and Editor Brent Lang were nominated for Print Journalist of the Year, while Assistant Music Editor Jem Aswad and Chief Correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister were nominated for the online journalist of the year.

“Our Variety newsroom had a banner year in terms of news, industry scoops and traffic. These nominations are just another sign of the incredible work our reporters and editors do as the #1 entertainment news brand,” said co-editors Ramin Setoodeh and Cynthia Littleton.

Variety.com earned a nomination for Best Entertainment Website; the team consists of Editor-in-Chief William Earl, Director of Digital Design Dan Doperalski, Associate Editors Pat Saperstein and Meredith Woerner, Director of Digital Information Zack Sharf, Managing Editor Maane Khachaturian, from editors Jordan Moreau and Ellise Shafer, associate editors J. Kim Murphy and Ethan Shanfeld, social media editor Katcy Stephan and social media coordinator Rachel Seo.

Willman leads it all Variety staff members with 17 nominations, including nods for best music critic; book review; journalist; humorous writing; business writing about music and the arts; celebrity news; pandemic declaration; musical personality profile of more than 2,500 words; artistic commentary; soft news about streaming and the arts; and celebrity function. Aswad follows with 15 nominations, including Best Music Critic; music business writing; entertainment programs; artistic news; diversity in the music industry; pandemic declaration; music function; and several nods with Setoodeh for their Lil Nas X Variety cover.

Lang has nine nominations, including Best Title; the film industry presents more than 1,000 words and reports on the pandemic with film and media journalist Rebecca Rubin; writing of appreciation with editor of Tangcay Jazz Craftsmen for their tribute to Halyna Hutchins; personality profile; article on the film industry under 1,000 words with Matt Donnelly, senior entertainment and media writer; film commentary; and filming hard news. Senior entertainment reporter Angelique Jackson earned eight nominations; including nods to diversity in entertainment and the sub-2,500-word personality profile for her “Feminist Evolution of ‘Jurassic World’” cover; celebrity feature over 1,000 words; function of broadcasting soft information for more than five minutes; diversity in the television industry; television personality profile; and feature film.

Variety the video series “The Take” won two nominations, one for hosts Wagmeister and Clayton Davis, Variety editor for awards and another for best video news with Wagmeister, Jackson, video vice president Alex Castro and supervising producer Laela Zadeh Schmidt. Other Variety videos with “CODA” Oscar winner Troy Kotsur and Viola Davis earned additional nominations for Schmidt, Davis, Wagmeister, Sharf, physical production executive Preston Northrop and lead producer Nicholas Stango. VarietyThe “Awards Circuit” podcast received nominations for hosts Davis, Tangcay, editor Michael Schneider, associate editor Jenelle Riley, and editor Emily Longeretta.

Other Variety nominees included Wagmeister, Schneider and television editor Brian Steinberg with seven; executive music writer Shirley Halperin with six; Davis, Rubin, Setoodeh and senior vice president Tim Gray with five; Donnelly, chief film critic Owen Gleiberman and editor of international writer and principal Manori Ravindran with four; Tangcay, Riley and managing editor Malina Saval with three.

Saperstein, Stephan, Schmidt, Northrop, Chief Film Critic Peter Debruge, Chief Television Critic Daniel D’Addario, International Journalist KJ Yossman, Editor Gordon Cox, Chief Television Critic Caroline Framke, media editor Gene Maddaus, international journalist Naman Ramachandran and music freelancer Leena Tailor. Other nominees included Earl, Doperalski, Castro, Stango, Sharf, Longeretta, Shanfeld, Littleton, Executive Vice President of Global Content Steven Gaydos, International Editor-in-Chief Elsa Keslassy, ​​Culture Editor and events Marc Malkin, Italy and Middle East correspondent Nick Vivarelli, and music freelancers AD Amorosi and Roy Trakin.

The National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards are presented annually by the Los Angeles Press Club. Winners will be announced on December 4, 2022 at the Sheraton Universal Hotel. See the full list of nominees here.