The ICG Publicists Guild today revealed the six nominees for its 2023 Maxwell Weinberg Award for Motion Picture Publicity Campaigns, which include the teams behind last year’s two biggest movies.
The billion-dollar grossers Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick will vie for the marquee prize along with Elvis, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Nope and The Woman King.
The award honors active members working on motion pictures whose achievements in publicity and promotion campaigns during the previous calendar year are deemed outstanding.
“The outstanding nominations this year shine a bright light not only on the diversity of the films submitted but also the individual challenges the publicity teams faced in this highly competitive field,” said Sheryl Main, who announced the nominees along with fellow ICG Publicists Awards Chair Tim Menke.
Another billion-dollar pic, Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, won the guild’s Maxwell Weinberg Award for movies last year, and Apple TV+ comedy Ted Lasso took the corresponding TV prize.
Voting is set for the week of January 31-February 6, and the hardware will be presented at the 60th annual ICG Publicists Awards on Friday, March 10, at The Beverly Hilton. The International Cinematographers Guild, IATSE Local 600, announced its TV nominees in November, and its nominations for individual publicists, unit still photographers and entertainment journalists came out in December.
Here is a list of all the nominees for the 60th annual ICG Publicists Guild Awards:
MAXWELL WEINBERG AWARD FOR MOTION PICTURE PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN
Avatar: The Way of Water (20th Century Studios)
Elvis (Warner Bros.)
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix)
Nope (Universal Pictures/MonkeyPaw Productions)
Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount Pictures/Skydance/Jerry Bruckheimer Films)
The Woman King (TriStar Pictures/Entertainment One)
MAXWELL WEINBERG AWARD FOR TELEVISION PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN
Abbott Elementary (Warner Bros. Television/ABC)
Ghosts (CBS Studios/CBS)
Prey (20th Century Studios/Hulu)
RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars (MTV Entertainment Studios/Paramount+)
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (CBS Studios/Paramount+).
LES MASON AWARD FOR CAREER ACHIEVEMENT IN PUBLICITY
Natalie Bjelajac, Netflix
Karen Chamberlain, Warner Bros. Pictures
Gabriela Gutentag, Unit Publicist
Carri McClure, Unit Publicist
Carol McConnaughey, Unit Publicist
Claire Raskind, Unit Publicist
PUBLICIST OF THE YEAR AWARD
Michelle Alt, Paramount Pictures
Heidi Falconer, Unit Publicist
James Ferrera, Unit Publicist
Sara Hull, Walt Disney Studios
Gianluca Lignola, Universal Pictures
Danielle Roque, Paramount Pictures International
EXCELLENCE IN UNIT STILL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD – MOTION PICTURES
Eli Joshua
Ade Quantrell
Colbert Kevin Estrada
Chiabella James
Jojo Whilden
EXCELLENCE IN UNIT STILL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD – TELEVISION
Beth Dubber
Richard Foreman
Hilary Bronwyn Gayle
Justin Lubin
Nicole Wilder
PRESS AWARD
Erik Davis, Fandango
Angelique Jackson, Variety
Dave Morales, KRIV-TV Houston
Andy Reyes, Entertainment Tonight
Jazz Tangcay, Variety
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA AWARD
Yong Chavez, ABS-CBN News (Philippines)
Dan Jolin, Empire (UK)
Garry Maddox, Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Zachary Ntim, Deadline (UK)
Helen O’Hara, Empire (Northern Ireland)
Adam Tanswell, Total Film (UK)