Logies defend voting changes
TV Week answers its critics by saying it recognised historical faults in the voting system and it went to considerable lengths to address them.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
TV Week has taken the most unusual step of issuing a statement regarding its Logie voting system in the wake of criticism last week.
Some media, television personalities and public have questioned the nomination results which were announced last Sunday.
“While we know criticising the Logies is a favourite media pastime, I think it’s important to note we’ve recognised historical faults in the system and gone to considerable lengths over the last few years, and this year in particular, to address them,” said publisher Peter Holder.
TV Week says the changes from voting via print coupons to online was in response to previous criticism when Popular categories were dominated by such shows as Home & Away and Neighbours.
This year an online form was developed by Roy Morgan Research in conjunction with the magazine.
“The results were scrutinised by Ernst & Young, which oversaw the set up, compilation and voting process in accordance with Australian Auditing Standards. The process ensured a one vote per person result,” it said in a statement.
Each online Logie vote required a valid contact phone number, and full name and address of the voter.
The Logies also opened the field to Community TV nominees and boosted the initial nominee list by allowing networks to submit unlimited nominees in the Popular categories.
But the list of Gold nominees was trimmed from 8 to 6 this year.
Holder told TV Tonight, “The main reason behind this move was we wanted to make being nominated for gold even more of an honour and less of a Melbourne Cup field. Also the top 6 of the final 8 have always been miles ahead in previous years.”
There were also changes to the peer-voted Outstanding Awards with independent experts comprising seven panels of at least five judges who represented the top of their fields.
Roy Morgan Research and Ernst & Young also oversaw this process.
“The voting system this year proved that a determined campaign by talent, as well as broadening the voting process for all TV-loving Australians, has given the TV Week Logie Awards a fairer field of competitors in all categories,” said Holder.
“At TV Week, we make no comment about who should or shouldn’t have made the list of Gold Logies nominees. The general public cast their votes and we respect that. We wish each and every nominee – across all categories – the best for what should be another spectacular TV Week Logie Awards on May 1.”
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- Tagged with Home & Away, Logie Awards, Melbourne Cup, Neighbours
21 Responses
@David, can we only vote for the Gold or can we also vote for the Silver? Seems to be a lot of confusion on facebook (one website is giving sms numbers for silver voting while the official website says nothing)
Just Gold.
Anthony: The only people not eligible for Gold were the people who weren’t submitted by networks in the first place.
@ Carta, well I can’t argue with that. I admit I was only looking at it from a ratings perspective, but what you have said is very true.
@ garry – I guess it all depends on what measure you use. More people watch H & A – that’s undeniable – but more people got online and voted for a Neighbours cast member in a major category, hence Margot Robbie’s nomination for the Silver Logie, as opposed to none for H & A. Internationally, it’s not even a contest, so if we’re looking at popularity in general (as opposed to in a certain market), then Neighbours wins hands down.
Kylie Minogue was also singing before Neighbours (she appeared on Young Talent Time with Dannii in 1985 and actually auditioned for the show herself, but was rejected), but it’s undeniable that her TV profile launched her singing career, just as it did Delta’s (her first single was not a big success – it wasn’t until she started appearing on Neighbours that her singing career took off). Neighbours launched the singing careers of the following artists, all of whom have reached the Top 10 in either the US or the UK:
Kylie Minogue
Jason Donovan
Craig McLachlan
Natalie Imbruglia
Holly Valance
Delta Goodrem
Whether these singers are “fine” or not is subjective, but it can’t be denied that their time on Neighbours led to success in the music industry.
@ mate, how can you say that Neighbours is more popular than Home & Away. H & A is regularly in the top ten shows of the night, while Neighbours rates 400,000 at best. And apart from Kylie, what other fine singers has Neighbours produced ? Delta Goodrem was singing before Neighbours. No others come to mind. I suppose it depends on your idea of a fine singer.
Not forgetting no matter what sort of job Shane Bourne does he will be criticized heaps.A hosting postion people just love to always complain about.Good Luck Shane
Love the logies.What they have now in place is a great idea everyone votes once and that is it.No phone numbers to ring or having to buy a TV Week.One thing though i don’t agree on is saying Neighbours dominates popular categories etc.How many times has Neighbours won in the past 5 years with any sort of award hardly any.This year will be Neighbours final year for winning anything as next year being on digital they won’t get the numbers.The system worked o.k before and this year will make little difference in the overall scheme of things.Just make the public more happy
@Summer Bay, Many care about Neighbours, and I’m sorry to say that it is more popular than Home and Away… if you haven’t noticed, Home and Away is beginning to fall in the ratings this year (thanks god 🙂 ) and i thank god that its not dominating the Logies like it always does, cause really, there is no talent on Home and Away, and there never will be, unlike Neighbours which has produced some of Australia’s finest actors and actress, singers, and set the highest record in TV history.
They need to scrap the ‘most popular’ categories and just make them all judge voted and not public voted. That’s what makes the Logies a joke, the fact that the major awards are voted by the public. I know the article having Plucka Duck nominated for Gold was an April Fools joke, but that could literally happen if he got enough votes and imagine if Plucka Duck won the gold logie? Although he probably deserves it more than Chrissie Swan…
Alas, Plucka would have to first be put forward by Nine, and I don’t see networks trying to argue for characters when they don’t yet put forward all their living, breathing people.
Lily Serna and Julie Goodwin are New Talent Presenters and were not on the list of eligible Popular Presenters…
@David I don’t think everyone was eligible for Gold. Not e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e could be voted for Gold.
About Jackie Woodburne (and Stefan Dennis)… No matter how outstanding a performer is, if they’re on a soap that isn’t really well-regarded, they won’t be nominated. And as a Neighbours viewer, I don’t think Jackie Woodburne or Stefan Dennis had any outstanding material or enough of it consistently last year to warrant any acclaim…
David, or maybe one for TV Week to answer, but if actors are not eligible for new talent -and- most popular/outstanding categories, then why isn’t the same rule applied to presenters? There just isn’t consistency with the selection of candidates or rules. And as with previous years so many actors, actresses and presenters were omitted from the candidates list – and moving to online voting was meant to allow room to open those fields up completely.
And I realise that we’re only talking about the Logies and not, as one commentator pointed out last week, the Nobel Peace Prize, but every year there are inconsistencies which is frustrating because it shouldn’t be that difficult.
As for cutting the Gold nominees from eight to six. Meh. Whatever. I think it’s fine. I mean in past years it was only 4 or 5, and before SMS viewers didn’t get a final say from the nominees list, so I don’t see the problem.
Good luck to Chrissie though. She’s copped a bit of flak for being nominated for Gold, almost as if she’d done it personally, but I think she’s a genuinely popular personality and good luck to her.
Andrew: you can see by my earlier comment that I have no argument with that.
Perhaps if Jackie Woodburne left Neighbours and made herself available for a quality production, she might be considered for Outstanding Actress. The peer nominated section is never going to recognise people from Neighbours etc.
@pete cause nobody cares about Neighbours, unlike Home & Away if it wasn’t still watched in the U.K it would of ended 2-3 years ago.
Anthony: They actually don’t need to address this. New Talent actors cannot be nominated for Popular / Outstanding Actors. But everyone is eligible for the Gold. Perhaps next year they might add New Talent Presenters cannot be nominated for Popular Presenter, but as it stands it is currently eligible.
Jackie Woodburne is fantastic. Once nominated for a Rose D’Or in Switzerland… but overlooked here. Shame.
I agree with Pete why on earth wasn’t a stunner like Jackie Woodburne nominated for outstanding actress? It shows that australia doesn’t see talent when it is hitting them in the face.
Well, I don’t think they’re ever going to address why Chrissie Swan was eligible for all three categories…
I still think 8 Gold nominees would’ve been better! Six isn’t a good showcase of our TV industry.
What Wasn’t Jackie Woodburne or even Stefen Dennis nominated for Most Outstanding Actor/Actress?