Organisers ditch the 2020 Logie Awards ceremony for a TV broadcast amid COVID-19 crisis
In the latest blow for Queensland, organisers of the TV Week Logie Awards have ditched the star-studded Gold Coast ceremony amid the COVID-19 crisis. But the 2020 awards will still be handed out.
QLD News
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THE 2020 TV Week Logie Awards will switch to a television broadcast after organisers agreed to scrap the glitzy Gold Coast ceremony.
The planned June 28 event at The Star Gold Coast, and all related public events, won’t go ahead due to the global COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent event and travel restrictions put in place by the Federal and State Governments.
In a bid to salvage TV’s night of nights, organisers are now working with broadcaster Channel 9 and Tourism and Events Queensland to create a new-look national television broadcast during which the 62nd annual awards will be handed out.
The Courier-Mail understands voting will continue as planned and while the broadcast won’t take place on June 28, it will be held within a similar time frame.
“Given the global COVID-19 pandemic the 2020 TV WEEK Logie Awards will not proceed as planned on the Gold Coast on Sunday June 28, nor any of the ancillary public events,” Fiona Connolly, Group Publisher of Bauer Media, said.
“But we will continue with our nominations announcement and online voting campaign and are working with our partners on a TV broadcast alternative and will advise of those details when we have them.”
The new voting system for the Most Popular award categories, announced in February, will also continue.
It will see television ratings, social media analysis and opinions of a panel of television experts combined to determine the nominees in the 12 categories, including the coveted Gold Logie and the new award for Most Popular Australian Actor or Actress in an International Program.
Nominees will then be announced on May 24 as planned and the public will have an extended live voting period to determine the winners.
The Logies announcement comes after organisers of the 2020 Australian Performing Rights Association Awards, which were scheduled to take place in Sydney on April 28, announced it would instead be streamed online as a virtual event on May 26.
Last week former Gold Logie winner Grant Denyer said he hoped the awards would be postponed, saying it would be “self-indulgent in these times for the industry to pat itself on the back”.
Originally published as Organisers ditch the 2020 Logie Awards ceremony for a TV broadcast amid COVID-19 crisis