Logie Award - Awards Ceremony

Awards Ceremony

The Logies ceremony is televised, and has generally become more elaborate in recent years. The awards have for the past 11 years been held in a ballroom in Melbourne's Crown Casino (rather than a theatre, which is common for the Emmy Awards and Academy Awards). Dinner is served just before the ceremony and drinks are served during the ceremony.

Bert Newton has been strongly associated with the history of the Logies. As well as winning the Gold Logie four times, he hosted the awards a total of 19 times. He has also performed in well-received guest appearances. One notable appearance was with Muhammad Ali as co-presenter in 1979. Newton made a comment "I like the boy!" (in reference to a series of TV advertisements Bert had recently done), that was seen as racist by Ali, although Newton claimed this was not his intention. Ali was upset at the comment and a full apology was issued by Newton and the Awards producers.

In 1973, American actor Michael Cole generated controversy after accepting an award while apparently drunk, uttering the word "shit" in a short, incoherent acceptance speech. This was the first time the word had been said on Australian television. According to Bert Newton, Channel Nine received thousands of complaints about the use of the word, however, when it was edited for the repeat transmission "they got double the calls complaining it had been dropped.

However, the most difficult guest to interact with, according to Newton was Vic Morrow in 1967. He would just stand there saying nothing, silently handing out the Logies. According to Bert, "every so often, I'd say 'how are you going, Vic?' and he would just nod his head."

GTV-9/Nine Network is also strongly associated with the history of the Logies, particularly since the parent company Publishing and Broadcasting Limited now also owns TV Week. Nine has hosted the awards 35 times in their 49-year history.

Public voting for the awards lasts for four weeks, usually beginning in early February, while the ceremony itself is in late April or early May. However, the voting for the 2011 Logie Awards began in December 2010 and ran for 12 weeks.

In 2011 Katy Perry performed an opening number and then presented the Best Children's Show award with comedy personalities Hamish and Andy. The 2011 ceremony also featured Shaun Micallef, Roy & HG, The Chaser and was hosted by Shane Bourne.

2012 saw One Direction and Delta Goodrem perform on the night and appearances of Flo Rida, Tony Bennett and Seal.