This past week, the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television unveiled the full list of 2020 Special Award recipients, who will be honoured at gala award ceremonies during Canadian Screen Week to be held from March 23 to 29.

The Lifetime Achievement Award will go to Vancouver-based scientist, broadcaster, and author David Suzuki. He also cofounded the David Suzuki Foundation with Dr. Tara Cullis; holds 29 honorary university degrees and is a professor emeritus at UBC; and has hosted several TV and radio shows, including the CBC TV series The Nature of Things and CBC Radio’s Quirks and Quarks. Among the numerous accolades he has collected, he is a Companion to the Order of Canada and a recipient of UNESCO’s Kalinga Prize for science.

Ontario-born Alex Trebek, who has hosted the TV game show Jeopardy since 1984, will receive the Academy Icon Award. He has won a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and six Daytime Emmy awards, in addition to other honours.

The Radius Award, given to a Canadian whose work is having an international impact, will be given to actor, writer, director, producer, and showrunner Dan Levy. He created Schitt’s Creek, which is now in its sixth season, with his father Eugene Levy.

North of 60 star Tina Keeper of Norway House Cree Nation, whose film include Falls Around Her and Through Black Spruce, wins the Earle Grey Award, which recognizes exceptional work in Canadian television.

The Good Doctor executive producer and showrunner David Shore, who also created House and produced Law and Order, is named the recipient of the Margaret Collier Award, for exception work in television or film.

The Academy Board of Directors’ Tribute will be presented to two recipients. One is screen industry executive Robin Mirsky, who is the chair and director of several entertainment organizations and has been the executive director of the Rogers Group of Funds, which assists in the production of Canadian programming. The other is Halifax producer, writer, and executive Michael Donovan, cofounder of Salter Street Productions, which has produced This Hour Has 22 Minutes and the documentary Bowling for Columbine.

The Gordon Sinclair Award for Broadcast Journalism goes to W5 producer and journalist Anton Koschany, who originally hails from Vancouver and was formerly a producer at CBC’s The Fifth Estate.

The Humanitarian Award, to recognize an extraordinary humanitarian contribution or act of compassion by a media industry professional, goes to Nathalie Younglai, who founded the screen-representation advocacy organization BIPOC TV and Film and is a writer and coproducer of CBC’s Coroner.   

The Industry Leadership Award, for innovation and leadership in the Canadian media industry, goes to Crave, which has shown homegrown content such as the documentaries Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band, Sharkwater: Extinction, and Anthropocene: The Human Epoch; the TV series Letterkenny and the forthcoming Canada’s Drag Race; and Canadian films such as The Grizzlies  and Code 8.

Secret Location For Vusr received the Outstanding Media Innovation Award for groundbreaking innovation in Canadian media. This company is a content creator and distributor for advanced technological platforms.  

Full details of all recipients are available at the academy website.