Variety Leads With 62 Nominations for Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards

Variety has collected 62 nominations for the Los Angeles Press Club's 19th annual National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards, including Print Journalist of the Year for Chris Willman and Online Journalist of the Year for Ethan Shanfeld. Winners will be announced on Dec. 6 at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, where Brandi Carlile will receive the Humanitarian Award. Variety won 20 prizes at last year's ceremony.

The haul spans criticism, profiles, business reporting, commentary and photography. What does it say about the publication's reach? It places individual staffers in contention across nearly every category the Press Club judges.

Who are the lead nominees?

Owen Gleiberman earned nominations as film critic (over 1,000 words) and as music critic. Daniel D'Addario is a finalist for theater/performing arts critic. Willman, beyond his Journalist of the Year nod, is nominated as music critic, online columnist of the year and print columnist of the year.

Ethan Shanfeld anchors the features slate. His Baywatch casting story — "'This Whole Thing Is Not Normal': Inside the 'Baywatch' Reboot Casting Call With 2,000 Wannabe Lifeguards" — is a finalist for TV Industry Feature (Over 1,000 Words). His Diddy Trial investigation, "Inside the Diddy Trial Circus: How Screaming Fans, Baby Oil and Street Preachers Turned the Courthouse Into a Madhouse," competes for Music/Performing Arts Industry Feature (Over 1,000 Words).

Which cover stories were recognized?

Several Variety cover stories made the finalist list:

• Daniel D'Addario's Jodie Foster cover, a Personality Profile, Film Industry (over 2,500 words) finalist
• Trish Deitch's Jamie Lee Curtis cover, in the same category
• Ethan Shanfeld's Miley Cyrus cover, "'I Wasn't Trying to Kill Hannah Montana Off'"
• Daniel D'Addario's Charlie Hunnam cover, a Personality Profile, TV/Streaming industry (over 2,500 words) finalist
• Daniel Doperalski's "KPop Demon Hunters" cover photo, nominated in the portrait photo, music/theater/arts category

What else is on the list?

The nominations reach across desks. Brent Lang and Ethan Shanfeld are finalists in Business, Film for their Disney CEO story, "Can New Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro Weather AI, Revitalize 'Star Wars' and Marvel and Save the Magic Kingdom?" Brian Steinberg has two business-reporting nods, on CBS News and on NBC's "Gold Zone." Naman Ramachandran is a finalist four times, including for hard news on Ranveer Singh's "Don 3" exit and for "The Vertical Revolution: How Microdramas Became a Multi-Billion Dollar Global Phenomenon."

Chris Willman's name recurs across headline writing, obituaries, soft news and commentary, including "Where in the Actual Hell Is Randy Newman? And Other Questions Raised by the New York Times' Greatest Living American Songwriters List." Rebecca Rubin is a finalist twice, for the Timothée Chalamet press-tour feature and the Warner Bros. sale analysis. Jazz Tangcay, Michael Schneider, Todd Spangler, Pat Saperstein, Marc Malkin, K.J. Yossman, Jem Aswad, Leo Barraclough, Kate Aurthur, Antonio Ferme and William Earl each appear in categories from radio interviews to food and culture features.

The Dec. 6 ceremony at the Biltmore will show whether Variety converts its 62-nomination slate into another haul to match last year's 20 wins.