Publicists Select ‘Joker,’ ‘The Mandalorian’ for Top Publicity Campaign Awards

Dave McNary
·3 min read

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Hollywood union publicists have selected Warner Bros.’ “Joker” and Disney’s “The Mandalorian” as winners of the Maxwell Weinberg Awards for top publicity campaigns last year.

The awards were announced Friday afternoon at the Beverly Hilton by the International Cinematographers Guild (ICG, IATSE Local 600) Publicists.

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“Joker” won the feature film award and topped the publicity teams behind Netflix’s “The Irishman,” Universal’s “Us,” Sony’s “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood,” Paramount’s “Rocketman” and Disney-Marvel’s “Avengers: Endgame.” The Joaquin Phoenix vehicle was a smash with more than $1 billion in global box office along with receiving 11 Academy Award nominations.

The first season of Disney Plus’ “The Mandalorian” took the television awards over the campaigns for “Catch 22,” “Fosse/Verdon,” “Pose,” and “Stranger Things.”

Steven Huvane of Slate PR won the Les Mason award, presented by longtime client Jennifer Aniston, who told the audience, “You really are some of the hardest working people in this town. I apologize on behalf of all of us.”

Aniston ticked off a long list of tabloid stories about her such as “Jen’s knee goes under the knife” and thanked Huvane for dealing with them by saying, “He eats all of the tabloid junk food so I don’t have to.”

Rachel Aberly of 42 West won the inaugural Publicist of the Year award. “I want to thank you for always making me feel welcome,” she said.

Winners listed in bold:

2020 MAXWELL WEINBERG AWARD FOR MOTION PICTURE PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN

“Avengers: Endgame” – Marvel Studios

“The Irishman” – Netflix

“Joker” – Warner Bros. Pictures

“Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” – Columbia Pictures

“Rocketman” – Paramount Pictures

“Us” – Universal Pictures

2020 MAXWELL WEINBERG AWARD FOR TELEVISION PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN

CATCH-22 – Casey Spiegel, Paramount Television (streams on Hulu)
FOSSE/VERDON – Nicole Crawford, Fox 21 Television (airs on FX)
THE MANDALORIAN: Season 1 – Gregg Brilliant, Unit Publicist, and the Local 600 union publicists of Disney + (streams on Disney +)
POSE: Season 2 – Yong Kim, Fox 21 Television (airs on FX)
STRANGER THINGS: Season 3 – Denise Godoy Gregarek, Unit Publicist (streams on Netflix) WHEN THEY SEE US – Jackie Bazan, Unit Publicist (streams on Netflix)

LES MASON AWARD FOR CAREER ACHIEVEMENT IN PUBLICITY

Gabriela Gutentag – Unit Publicist
Stephen Huvane – Slate PR
Maureen O’Malley – Warner Bros.
Peter J. Silbermann – Unit Publicist
David Waldman – Paramount Pictures

PUBLICIST OF THE YEAR AWARD

Rachel Aberly – 42 West
Michelle Alt – Paramount Pictures
Kira Feola – Walt Disney Studios
Alex Kang – Walt Disney Studios
Carol McConnaughey – Unit Publicist

PRESS AWARD

Clark Collis – Entertainment Weekly
Tom O’Neil – Gold Derby
Andy Reyes – Entertainment Tonight
Amanda Salas – Fox 11
Adam Weissler – Extra TV

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA AWARD

Vera Anderson – Cine Premiere/HFPA (Mexico)
Nelson Aspen – Sunrise (Australia)
Janet Nepales – Manila Bulletin/HFPA (Philippines)
Gill Pringle – FilmInk.com (UK)
Adam Tanswell – Freelance/HFPA (UK)

EXCELLENCE IN UNIT STILL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD FOR MOTION PICTURES

Matt Kennedy
Justin Lubin
Daniel McFadden
Hopper Stone
Niko Tavernise

EXCELLENCE IN UNIT STILL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD FOR TELEVISION

Beth Dubber
Justin Lubin
Nicole Rivelli
JoJo Whilden
Nicole Wilder

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