North of North, a CBC and Netflix comedy set in Canada’s icy Arctic, has nabbed a field-leading 20 nominations heading into the Canadian Screen Awards.
The series, which features Anna Lambe as a 20-something Inuit woman, will compete for best comedy and best comedy direction for Anya Adams and Zoe Hopkins. That’s followed close behind with Heated Rivalry, the breakout gay hockey drama from Crave and HBO Max, picking up 18 nominations, including best direction and best writing for Jacob Tierney.
And Heated Rivalry leads Hudson Williams and Francois Arnaud will challenge in the best drama performer category alongside Supinder Wraich contending for Allegiance, Michelle Morgan entered for Heartland and Kathleen Munroe for Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent, among others.
Also on the TV side, the CBC comedy Small Achievable Goals pulled in 12 nominations, including best lead comedy performances for Meredith MacNeill and Jennifer Whalen. On the film front, the post-apocalyptic thriller 40 Acres, starring Danielle Deadwyler as a steely matriarch, picked up ten nominations, including best movie and best director for R.T. Thorne.
That’s followed by director Eric Boulianne’s Follies, the French-language comedy, Honey Bunch from directors Dusty Mancinelli and Madeleine Sims-Fewer, and Matthew Johnson’s Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, each earning eight nominations.
The best lead in a dramatic movie category has nominations for Grace Glowicki for Honey Bunch, Jasmin Geljo for Cat’s Cry, Noah Parker for Who By Fire and Theresia Kappianaq for Wrong Husband, among others. The organizers of the Canadian Screen Awards, the country’s Oscars and Emmys, ended nomination eligibility for foreign talent, including American actors, starting with this year’s 2026 edition.
In past years, best acting trophies often went to Americans and other foreign talent as productions with Hollywood actors, or Canadian projects backed by U.S. streamers, aimed to drive increased international sales and audience reach.
Making Canadian Screen Awards eligibility exclusively available to homegrown talent or those with residency also followed a rise in Canadian nationalism countrywide after U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff and annexation threats.
Besides those rule book changes, Canada’s film and TV awards this year will also feature top Canadian broadcasters CBC, Bell Media, and Corus partnering to simultaneously broadcast the final prize-giving on May 31 from Toronto.
A full list of Canadian Screen Award nominations will be available on the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television website.
