Last month we asked you to help us choose the nominees for our Annual AfterEllen.com Visibility Awards, to honor the best and worst of lesbian and bi visibility in entertainment for the year (see previous award winners here: 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004).
After tallying up the thousands of nominations you submitted, we’ve narrowed each of our 15 categories down to the final nominees. Voting is open now through midnight Monday Dec. 15. As always, one vote per person, please – no ballot stuffing! (We check ISP addresses!) You don’t need to vote in every category – if you’re not familiar with any of the finalists in a category, it’s better to skip that category so you don’t unfairly skew the results.
We’ll tally up the votes and announce the winners on Dec. 18.
A few notes before you vote:
In the interest of expediency, only nominees with a high percentage of the vote were included, so the number of finalists varies by category from between two and five (for example, there was no sense including more than The L Word and South of Nowhere in the “Best Scripted TV Series on Cable” category, since almost all the nominations were for those two shows).
We received many entries for shows/books/movies that did not air/publish/release in 2008 (most notably, Exes & Ohs) and these nominations were discarded, since they did not meet the qualifications.
Finally, the “best fiction” category was split into two separate categories – novels and graphic novels – and the “best non-fiction” question is not included in the finalist round at all, since almost all the nominations were for the same non-fiction book. (Which one? Tune in on Dec. 18 to find out!)
One last reminder: these finalists were culled from your nominations, not editorially chosen. So if your favorite show/musician/person etc. didn’t make the cut, don’t blame us! (But don’t worry, you’ll give you plenty of editorial choices to quibble with when we reveal the winners of the Visibility Awards categories that we didn’t put up to a vote, like best and worst lesbian-themed TV episodes).
Now go forth and vote! (Just once!)
1. Best Scripted Series on Broadcast TV with Regular or Recurring Lesbian/Bi Characters (American)
All My Children (ABC) Bones (Fox) House M.D. (Fox)2. Best Scripted TV Series on American Cable/Premium TV with Regular or Recurring Lesbian/Bi Characters (American)
The L Word South of Nowhere3. Best Reality TV Series with Lesbian/Bi Characters (American)
America’s Next Top Model (The CW) Gimme Sugar (Logo) Iron Chef America (Food Network) Top Chef (Bravo) Work Out (Bravo)4. Best Scripted Series with Regular or Recurring Lesbian/Bi Characters (Non-American)
Capadocia (Mexico) Hollyoaks (UK) Hospital Central (Spain) Los Hombres de Paco (Spain) Mistresses (UK)5. Best Movie with Lesbian/Bi Characters – U.S. Theatrical Release
Caramel I Can’t Think Straight Milk The Women The World Unseen6. Best Movie with Lesbian/Bi Characters – U.S. Festival Release
Affinity Butch Jamie Drifting Flowers The Edge of Heaven Water Lilies7. Best Fictional Web Series with Lesbian/Bi Characters
3Way BJ Fletcher FEED Ghostella’s Haunted Tomb The Lovers & Friends Show8. Best Fiction with Lesbian/Bi Characters Published in 2008 – GRAPHIC NOVEL
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight (Joss Whedon and others) The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For (Alison Bechdel) I Was Kidnapped By Lesbian Pirates From Outer Space (Megan Rose Gedris)9. Best Fiction with Lesbian/Bi Characters Published in 2008 – NOVEL
Among Other Things, I’ve Taken Up Smoking (Aoibheann Sweeney) Dirty Girls on Top (Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez) Love & Lies: Marisol’s Story (Ellen Wittlinger) Passing for Black (Linda Villarosa)10. Lesbian/Bi Musician of the Year
Melissa Etheridge Missy Higgins Tegan & Sara Uh Huh Her11. Lesbian/Bi Woman of the Year (American)
Ellen DeGeneres Rachel Maddow Wanda Sykes12. Lesbian/Bi Woman of the Year (Non-American)
Anne Will Gro Hammerseng Sue Perkins Shamim Sharif13. Lesbian/Bi Couple of the Year (American)
Bridget McManus and Karman Kregloe Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson Rachel Maddow and Susan Mikula14. Lesbian/Bi Couple of the Year (Non-American)
Anne Will and Miriam Meckel Gro Hammerseng and Katja Nyberg Shamim Sharif and Hanan Kattan15. Best Straight Ally
Brooke Smith Eden Riegel Jennifer Beals Keith Olbermann Tina Fey
