Heated Rivalry &The Pitt among Rockie Awards nominees

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The BBC secures 26 nods, with Nat Geo and Hulu among those securing multiple nominations

Heated Rivalry, The Pitt, Riot Women, Destination X and A Real Bug’s Life are among nominees for the 2026 Rockie Awards International Program Competition, with the BBC dominating this year’s shortlist.

Entries from 45 countries were received, with 151 nominees from 21 countries across 29 categories, while the BBC has secured 26 nods for the awards, which takes place on 16 June at the Banff World Media Festival in June. Actor, director, writer and executive producer Allana Harkin (Full Frontal with Samantha Bee) is hosting.

Allana Harkin

Allan Harkin

Hit scripted series Heated Rivalry is joined by KOTV’s Plan B, BBC Studios’ Reckless, MGM Television’s The Handmaid’s Tale and HBO Max’s The Pitt in the English-language drama category.

The non-English language drama prize is being contested by Korea’s Bon Appétit, Your Majesty, Iceland’s Cold Haven, Quebecois show Empathy, Australia’s Love Scout, Nordic series Queen of Fucking Everything, France’s Those Who Lived and Taiwan’s The Outlaw Doctor.

Plimsoll Productions’ A Real Bug’s Life is in the running for the Environmental & Wildlife prize alongside shows such as the BBC’s Hamza’s Hidden Wild Isles and Ocean with David Attenborough, while Destination X and The Box are vying for the Competition Series & Gamne Shows prize.

Malin Åkerman (The Hunting Wives) and Jacob Elordi (The Narrow Road to the Deep North) are among those competing for the Best performance in a Drama prize, with Film Club duo Suranne Jones and Aimee Lou Wood nominated on the comedy side.

National Geographic and Hulu follow the BBC in the nomination rankings with 10 and eight respectively, followed by Disney Television Studios (six), HBO International Europe (four) and Gaumont (four).

The US is the best represented on the country face with 55 nominations, followed by the UK (39), Canada (28) and Australia (seven).

“At a moment of incredible transformation for the global entertainment industry, the creativity behind this year’s nominated projects is truly remarkable,” said Jenn Kuzmyk, executive director of the Banff World Media Festival.

“The programs and talent selected as standouts by our international jury exemplify what it means to be pushing boundaries, taking risks, and proving that original ideas continue to thrive even in times of great change.”

See the full list of nominations below:

Arts & Entertainment

Comedy Variety

Kumail Nanjiani: Night Thoughts (ITV America, Winter Coat Films, The Year Of Elan Productions)
Michael McIntyre’s Big Show (Hungry McBear, BBC One)
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s 2024 Induction Ceremony (Tenth Planet Productions)
The Graham Norton Show (So Television)

Competition Series & Game Shows

Destination X (Twofour, BBC One)
Next Level Baker (BiggerStage, Studio Ramsay)
Shark Tank (Sony Pictures Television)
The Box (Seefood TV, TV 2 Norway, Seefood Distribution)
The Traitors Canada (Entourage Production TV Inc)

Docuseries

Call Her Alex (Unwell Productions)
Crip Trip (Catapult Pictures)
Freddie Flintoff’s Field Of Dreams: The Ultimate Test (South Shore Productions)
Harlem Ice (Imagine Entertainment, Disney Branded Television)
The Death Coast (Forte Entertainment, Bell Media, Crave, USA Network, A+E, History Channel, Picture Farm, Sugar 23)
Tous en choeur (Sphere Media, AMI Télé)
Wildfire (Optic Nerve Films, CK9 Studios)

Lifestyle

Earth Oven (Hi Mama Productions, Blue Ant Media, Sky Television New Zealand, SBS Australia)
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (Endemol Shine North America, Hello Sunshine, Walt Disney Television Alternative)
No Taste Like Home with Antoni Porowski (Studio Ramsay Global, National Geographic)
Sort Your Life Out (Optomen Television Limited)
Tucci In Italy (BBC Studios Specialist Factual Productions, Salt Productions, National Geographic)

Reality Series

Bloodlines (Seefood TV, TV 2 Norway, Seefood Distribution)
Jay & Pamela (Jarrett Creative, TLC)
Le calendrier de l’avent (Sphere Media, Bell Media)
Same Bed, Different Dreams 2: You Are My Destiny (SBS)
Underdog Inc (Big Time Decent Productions Inc.)

Documentary & Factual

Arts & Culture

Half Moon (Selfmade Films, NTR, NPO-fonds, CoBO, Filmfonds)
Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery – The Untold Story (White Horse Pictures, Elevation Pictures, ABC News Studios, Not A Real Production Company)
Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) (MRC, Network Entertainment Inc., Two One Five Entertainment Inc., RadicalMedia, Stardust Films LLC, ID8 Multimedia, Inc., Sony Music Entertainment)
The Last Musician of Auschwitz (Two Rivers Media, BBC, Access Entertainment, Sphere Abacus)
The Lost Music of Auschwitz (Windfall Films)

Crime & Investigation

Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke (Passion Pictures)
Don’t Date Brandon (Wag Entertainment, See It Now Studios, Paramount+, Fremantle International)
Oklahoma City Bombing (72 Films)
Secrets of the Bunny Ranch (yap films, C3, A&E)
Undercover in the Police (BBC Panorama)

Environmental & Wildlife

A Real Bug’s Life (Plimsoll Productions)
Hamza’s Hidden Wild Isles (Silverback Films, BBC, BBC One, BBC iPlayer, All3Media Limited)
Ocean with David Attenborough (Silverback Films, Open Planet Studios)
Secrets of the Forest (Windfall Films)
Underdogs (Wildstar Films, Maximum Effort)

History & Biography

Free at Last: Unresolved Stories of Apartheid (beetz brothers film production, StoryScope)
Lost in the Jungle (Little Monster Films, Lightbox, Pacha Films, Señal Colombia, Demolition Films)
Neshoma (NTR, FamilyAffairs, Het Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, AFK, Claims Conference, NPO-Fonds, CoBO, Filmfonds, Beeld & Geluid, Eye Filmmuseum)
No Justice, Just Kills (BBC Eye)
Separation: Declassified (CNA, One Leg Kicking, The Ordinary Milkman)
The Twister: Caught in the Storm (RAW)

Science & Technology

A.I. Love You (Nordisk Film TV Denmark)
Chris Hemsworth: A Road Trip to Remember (Nutopia, Protozoa, Wild State Productions)
Once Upon a Time in Space (KEO Films, Fremantle, BBC, PBS, The Open University)
The Calling: A Medical School Journey (HHMI Tangled Bank Studios, Cineflix Media, American Issues Initiative, First Story Productions)
Titanic: Digital Resurrection (Atlantic Productions)
Why Planes Crash (Windfall Films, BBC)

Short Form Non-Fiction Series

CBC On Design (Sticks & Stones, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)
Guardians (Zandland, The Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales, United for Wildlife)
Rebels (Space Pirates)
The November Project (Bell Fibe TV1, Two Blue Shirts, Critical Mass Art, Robert Horgan)
Wild Hope (HHMI Tangled Bank Studios, Red Rock Films Production)

Social Issues and Current Affairs

Hudson Bay(bies) (Les Films Sanajik, PVP Media)
Idris Elba: Our Knife Crime Crisis (22 Summers)
Love+War (Little Monster Films)
Prisoner 951: The Hostages’ Story (Dancing Ledge Productions, BBC)
The Assembly (Small Army Entertainment)
The Spoils (Cave 7 Productions Inc., CBC, Blue Ant International)

Sports Documentary

Believers: Boston Red Sox (ESPN, Religion of Sports, Artists Equity)
Clemente (Vinegar Hill, UNINTERRUPTED, Vantage Pictures, Cookie Jar, Dream Studios, APX Content Ventures, History Channel)
Saints and Warriors (InnoNative, Grand Scheme, Uninterrupted Canada, First Take Entertainment)
Unforgotten: The Bradford City Fire (Acme, BBC)
Who Killed the Montreal Expos? (Attraction, Netflix)

Children & Youth

Animation Preschool

ODO (Sixteen South, Letko)
Once There Is (Miyu Distribution)
Piggy Builders (Xilam Animation, Cube Creative Productions, Horta Productions)
The Scarecrows’ Wedding (Magic Light Pictures, BBC, ZDF)
Woolly Woolly (Normaal, PVP Media, France Télévisions, TVOkids, Radio-Canada, Knowledge Kids)

Animation Children

Kiff: Lore of the Ring Light (Titmouse, Inc., Disney Television Animation, Disney Branded Television)
Pudsey and the Thread of Hope (BBC Studios Kids & Family, BBC)
Super Happy Magic Forest (Tiger Aspect Kids & Family, Zodiak Kids & Family France, Movimenti Productions, Monello Productions, BBC, C+, Rai, ZDF, ABC)
The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball (Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe, WarnerMedia Kids & Family)
The Weasy Family (HARI)

Live Action: Children

Donkey Hodie (Fred Rogers Productions, Spiffy Pictures)
Follow Me, Go! Global Warming Series (PTS Taiwan)
Knee High Spies (Werner Film Productions, ABC, ACTF, Screen Australia, VicScreen)
Nature Bug Patrol (Taigi TV Station)
The First Snow of Fraggle Rock (The Jim Henson Company)

Live Action: Youth

Crongton (New Pictures, BBC)
Night Shift (Trio Orange)
Percy Jackson and the Olympians (20th Television, Disney Branded Television)
ZOMBIES 4: Dawn of the Vampires (Night Zone Productions Limited, Disney Branded Television)

Scripted

Feature Length Film

Disclosure (W&B Television GmbH, Sperl Productions GmbH)
If We Die, Let’s Die in Paris (NHK)
Mountainhead (HBO Films, Project Zeus, Hot Seat Attractions)
The Carry-On (Hakka TV)
What Now? (ATO Media Inc., TFO)

Drama Series: English Language

Heated Rivalry (Accent Aigu Entertainment, Bell Media, Crave, Canada Media Fund, The Bell Fund, Sphere Abacus, HBO Max, Movistar Plus, Sky Atlantic)
Plan B (KOTV)
Reckless (BBC Studios Productions)
The Handmaid’s Tale (MGM Television, Daniel Wilson Productions, The Littlefield Company, White Oak Pictures)
The Pitt (HBO Max, John Wells Productions, R. Scott Gemmill Productions, Warner Bros. Television)

Drama Series: Non-English Language

Bon Appétit, Your Majesty (CJ ENM, Studio Dragon, Netflix)
Cold Haven (Glassriver, SPi)
Empathy (Trio Orange)
Love Scout (SBS, Studio S)
Queen of Fucking Everything (Yle, ZDF, NPO, VRT, NRK, RUV)
Those Who Lived (What’s Up Films, Mizar Films, Nac Films)
The Outlaw Doctor (PTS Taiwan, Chunghwa Telecom, GrX Studio)

Comedy Series: English Language

Abbott Elementary (Delicious Non-Sequitur Productions, Fifth Chance, Warner Bros. Television, 20th Television, Disney Television Studios)
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX Productions)
Only Murders in the Building (20th Television)
The Chair Company (HBO, HyperObject Industries, Zanin Corp)
The Rehearsal (HBO, Blow Out Productions)

Comedy Series: Non-English Language

Fag Hag (Atresmedia, Suma Content)
Messed Up II (Topkapi Films)
Still Looking (Seefood TV, Seefood Distribution, TV 2 Norway)
Study Group (CJ ENM, Studio Dragon, TVING)
The Shortest Reign (Movistar Plus+, Zeta Studios)

Animated Series

American Dad! (20th Television Animation)
Brave Animated Series (PTS Taiwan, BIGCAT Studio, ARIES Studio)
Bob’s Burgers (20th Television Animation, Bento Box Entertainment)
Futurama (The Curiosity Company, 20th Television Animation)
The Simpsons (20th Television Animation)

Limited Series

Film Club (Gaumont, BBC)
Prisoner 951 (Dancing Ledge Productions, BBC)
The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Curio Pictures)
Trespasses (Wildgaze Films, Channel 4, All3Media International)
What It Feels Like for a Girl (Hera Pictures, BBC, ITV Studios)

Podcasts

Betrayal Season 4 (Glass Podcasts, Glass Entertainment Group, iHeart Podcasts)
Final Thoughts: Jerry Springer (Audible Originals, Prologue Projects)
First Conviction (RTÉ Documentary On One, RTÉ Investigates)
Toy Soldier (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)
What Could Go Wrong? (Audible, Plan B)

Web Series and Content Creators

Dying Seconds (Just for Entertainment Group)
Eyes in the Woods (Numera Films, OUTtv)
Moonbird (Kutikina Productions, Sheoak Films, SBS)
RE:Choice Three Days’ Times (PTS Taiwan)
The Stories That MADE Us (Wallop Film, Canada Media Fund, Telefilm Canada, Torque Strategies)

Best Use of Music in a Series