News: Genesis Award Noms for Animal Stories Are Announced

“The news and entertainment industries recognize that animal stories attract a large and devoted audience,” said Beverly Kaskey, senior director of the Humane Society’s Hollywood office. “The Michael Vick case gave unprecedented news coverage to dog fighting, but it also inspired a powerful episode of ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.’ As for ‘Boston Legal,’ in which social commentary abounds, animal issues formed the basis of several Genesis-nominated story lines.”

Hayden Panettiere (NBC’s “Heroes”) will be honored with the organization’s Wyler Award for drawing attention to Japan’s dolphin- and whale-harvesting practices. The award is named after Genesis Awards founder Gretchen Wyler, a Broadway star and animal activist who died last year.

“Boston Legal” will compete in the dramatic series category against the “Lying Down With Dogs” episode of “CSI” and the “A Change Is Gonna Come” episode of “Grey’s Anatomy.”

Full nominee list:

Feature film
“Amazing Grace”
“Year of the Dog”

Documentary film
“Arctic Tale”
“Sharkwater”

Sid Caesar Comedy Award
“According to Jim,” “Guinea Pygmalion” (ABC)
“The Bill Engvall Show,” “Aloha Raffles” (TBS)
“King of Queens,” “The Offensive Foul” (CBS)

Dramatic series
“Boston Legal,” multiple episodes (ABC)
“CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” “Lying Down With Dogs” (CBS)
“Grey’s Anatomy,” “A Change Is Gonna Come” (ABC)

TV newsmagazine (National)
“60 Minutes,” multiple episodes (CBS)
“Nightline,” “Pet Killings” and “Savior of the Apes” (ABC)

TV newsmagazine (cable/local/PBS/syndicated)
“Paula Zahn Now,” “Michael Vick/dog fighting” (CNN)
“Real Sports With Bryan Gumbel,” “Bred to Die” and “Faster Horses” (HBO)
“Inside Edition,” “Horse Slaughter Investigation” and “Puppies Online”

National news feature
“CBS Evening News With Katie Couric,” multiple segments (CBS)
“NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams,” multiple segments (NBC)

Local news series
WAGA-TV FOX 5 (Atlanta) Fox Pens: Fair Hunt?”
WKRN News 2 (Nashville) “Dog Fighting in Nashville” and “Life of a Fighter”
WKYC-TV (Cleveland) “Pig Farm Abuse”

Local news feature
KHOU-TV (Houston) multiple segments
WOIO-TV19 Action News (Cleveland) “Cleveland Clinic Whistle Blower” and “Ohio’s Exotic Animal Auction”
WTTG-TV FOX 5 (Washington) “Faux Fur” and “Not Faux Fur”

Morning show
“The Early Show,” “Puppy Mills Expose” (CBS)
“Sunday Morning,” “Baghdad Zoo, Unleashed” and “Unforgettable Elephants” (CBS)
THE TODAY SHOW Is Fake Fur Really Fake? 2 Parts - NBC

TV Documentary
“Nature,” multiple episodes (PBS)
“Orangutan Diary” (Animal Planet)
“Planet in Peril” (CNN)
“Wild,” “Revenge of the Elephants?” (National Geographic Channel)

Brigitte Bardot International
“60 Minutes Australia,” “Marvels of the Deep”
“The Cairo Connection” (various countries)
SABC 2 “50/50 Selling Them Short” (South Africa)
“Sea Turtles,” GEO TV (Pakistan)

Periodical
Gourmet Magazine, “A View to a Kill,” by Daniel Zwerdling and “The Occasional Vegetarian Letter From the Editor,” by Ruth Reichl
National Geographic, “Still Waters: The Global Fish Crisis,” by Fen Montaigne
Newsweek, “Slaughter in the Jungle,” by Sharon Begley and Scott Johnson
People, “The Fake Fur Scandal,” by Charlotte Triggs

Newspaper magazine feature
Chicago Tribune Magazine, “Is Animal Liberation Going Soft?” by Mick Dumke
Los Angeles Times Magazine, “Out of the Hollywood Jungle,” by J.R. Moehringer
New York Times Magazine, “The Bears Among Us,” by Darcy Frey
New York Times Magazine, “New Tricks,” by Charles Siebert

Newspaper article series
New York Times, multiple articles on farm animals, by Kim Severson
Tulsa World, puppy mill investigation, by Omer Gillham

Columnist
Stu Bykofsky, Philadelphia Daily News, “I am an Elephant,” “It’s Time to Ban Foie Gras,” “Thanksgiving Turkeys”
Clark Hoyt, The New York Times, “The Danger of the One-Sided Debate”
Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, “A Law for Bad Humans”