Jimmy Kimmel
emcees the 43rd Annual ICG Publicists Awards luncheon on Wednesday, March 1, 2006 in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. The event kicks off with no host cocktails at 11:00 am, followed by the noon luncheon. The International Cinematographers Guild Publicists Awards honor excellence in publicity and promotion for motion pictures and television programs. Recipients are selected in several different categories and are voted on by their peers. According to the Camera Guild, no other event celebrates the publicists' contribution to the entertainment industry. With the current Oscar campaigns coming to a close following the last ballot cast on Tuesday, February 28, this is also the time for movie publicists to let their hair down and let off a little steam. Last year, more than 900 publicity and marketing executives, producers, studio and network executives, celebrities and press braved torrential rains to join Local 600 members for the ICG 42nd Annual Publicists Awards.Nominees for this year's awards were announced January 9, 2006. The Guild will also hand out several honorary awards. Barry Meyer, Chairman and CEO, and Alan Horn, President and COO of Warner Brothers, will be honored with the guild's Motion Picture Showmanship Award. Stephen McPherson, President of ABC Entertainment, will be named 2006 Television Showman of the Year. Variety columnist Army Archerd, who recently retired from his daily column but continues as one of the paper's reporters, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award; Bob Dowling, who just retired as Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of the Hollywood Reporter, will receive a Special Award of Merit. Other awards to be presented are the Press Award; the International Media Award; the Maxwell Weinberg Awards, which recognizes outstanding accomplishment in the field of publicity; the Les Mason Award, given to a publicist for lifetime achievement; and the Bob Yeager Award, which recognizes significant community service.
Nominees for the Maxwell Weinberg Publicist Showmanship Award for Motion Pictures include the union publicists behind the Academy Award nominated films "Charlie and The Chocolate Factory," "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," "Good Night, and Good Luck," "Memoirs of a Geisha" and "Walk the Line."
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