Variety has received 100 nominations during the 2025 calendar year for the Los Angeles Press Club’s annual SoCal Journalism Awards. Four journalists were finalists for Journalist of the Year, including Daniel D’Addario for journalist of the year, print (over 50,000 circulation); Brian Steinberg for online journalist of the year; and Brent Lang and Chris Willman, entertainment journalists of the year.
Variety‘s nominations spanned magazine and entertainment journalism, video, photography and graphic design, audio and online content.
Variety’s critics were nominated in the film, TV, music and theater categories, including Owen Gleiberman, Alison Herman, Aramide Tinubu and Jem Aswad.
Ramin Setoodeh, co-editor in chief and co-president of Variety, was nominated for his article “Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield and Ayo Edebiri Aren’t Holding Back: ‘After the Hunt’ Stars on Making the Year’s Most Provocative Movie.” A Julia Roberts portrait from the issue was also nommed for entertainment portrait photo for Alexi Lubomirski, Jennifer Dorn and Haley Kluge.
Variety won 16 awards at last year’s ceremony including entertainment journalist of the year for Chris Willman and Variety.com for best website.
See the full list of Variety nominations below.
JOURNALISTS OF THE YEAR
PRINT, over 50,000 circulation
Daniel D’Addario, Variety
ONLINE JOURNALIST, tied to an organization
Brian Steinberg, Variety
ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST
Brent Lang, Variety
Chris Willman, Variety
ALL MEDIA PLATFORMS
CONSUMER NEWS or FEATURE
K.J. Yossman, Variety, “BBC Crisis Explained: How the Beloved U.K. Broadcaster Walked Into One of the Worst Scandals in Its 100-Year History — and Where It Goes From Here”
COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS OF FILM
Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, “‘Her’ Is Here”
COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS OF TV
Aramide Tinubu, Variety, “Apple Is Making a Huge Mistake Postponing ‘The Savant’ in Wake of Charlie Kirk Killing”
CRITICISM OF TV
Owen Gleiberman, Variety
CRITICISM OF FILM, (Over 1,000 Words)
Owen Gleiberman, Variety
CRITICISM OF TV, (Under 1,000 Words)
Alison Herman, Variety
Aramide Tinubu, Variety
CRITICISM OF THEATER/PERFORMING ARTS
Aramide Tinubu, Variety
CRITICISM OF MUSIC
Jem Aswad, Variety
PRINT/ONLINE
Humor/Satire Writing
Chris Willman, Variety, “Making the Public Domain Even More Horrifying: Modest Proposals for Turning 1920s Classics Into Slasher Fare, From Mickey to Hemingway”
OBITUARY/IN APPRECIATION, Film/TV Personalities
Daniel D’Addario, Variety, “Hollywood’s Humanist: Rob Reiner Was a Gifted Collaborator Who Understood Why We Tell Stories”
Owen Gleiberman, Variety, “Remembering Val Kilmer, a Powerful Actor Who Remained a Reluctant Movie Star”
Angelique Jackson, Variety, “Chadwick Boseman’s Star Gets a Prime Spot on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: ‘A Place of Prominence for a King’”
SPORTS
Angelique Jackson, Variety, “Simone Biles Teams With Religion of Sports to Expand Entertainment Portfolio: ‘We Want to Give Others Bigger Platforms to Narrate Themselves’ (EXCLUSIVE)”
Brian Steinberg, Variety, “NBA Cash Grab: Four Media Giants Set to Scramble for Ad Dollars as Games Leave Warner Bros. Discovery”
ART/PHOTOGRAPHY
PORTRAIT PHOTO, Entertainment
Alexi Lubomirski, Jennifer Dorn, Haley Kluge, Variety, “Julia Roberts Portrait”
Richard Phibbs, Jennifer Dorn, Jennifer Halper, Variety, “A$AP Rocky”
ENTERTAINMENT PHOTO, Single Image
Emilio Madrid, Jennifer Dorn, Haley Kluge, Jennifer Halper, Variety, “Darren Criss and Cole Escola”
PHOTO ESSAY (single topic), Culture/Entertainment
Alexi Lubomirski, Jennifer Dorn, Haley Kluge, Variety, “Actors on Actors”
ILLUSTRATION
Ricardo Tomas, Haley Kluge, Variety, “CBS Microphone”
COVER ART
Nicolás Ortega, Haley Kluge, Variety, “Trump Cover”
Greg Swales, Haley Kluge, Jennifer Dorn, Variety, “Bad Bunny Cover”
PAGE DESIGN
Will Hooks, Haley Kluge, Variety, “Stranger Things”
BUSINESS REPORTING An article or series
Gene Maddaus, Variety, “Microdramas Are Booming and Union Actors Are Looking for a Way In”
ACTIVISM JOURNALISM
Trish Deitch, Variety, “‘I Can’t Not Be Who I Am’: Jamie Lee Curtis on Her 47-Year Career, Falling in Love With Christopher Guest and Why She Hopes Charlie Kirk Found God”
RACE AND SOCIETY REPORTING
“Gender-Neutral Bathrooms and Land Acknowledgements: How California’s Film Diversity Rules Will — and Won’t — Change Life on Set”
NEWSPAPERS
PERSONALITY PROFILE
Clayton Davis, Variety, “Tramell Tillman on His Emotional Coming Out Story, ‘Severance’ Delays and Acting With Tom Cruise the Day After He Got ‘Mission: Impossible’ Script”
COMMENTARY
Clayton Davis, Variety, “My Son Is Not an Epidemic: A Father Responds to RFK Jr.’s Dangerous Autism Rhetoric”
MAGAZINES
INVESTIGATIVE
K.J. Yossman, Variety, “Inside the Nightmare Production of Indie Film About Beatles Manager Brian Epstein: ‘I Wish I’d Never Heard the Words ‘Midas Man’”
COMMENTARY
K.J. Yossman, Variety, “BBC Crisis Explained: How the Beloved U.K. Broadcaster Walked Into One of the Worst Scandals in Its 100-Year History — and Where It Goes From Here”
COLUMNIST
Chris Willman, Variety
FEATURE, Business/Government (Over 1,000 Words)
Tatiana Siegel, Brent Lang, Matt Donnelly, Variety, “Inside David Ellison’s Dramatic First 100 Days at Paramount: Courting Tom Cruise Blockbusters, Forging Ties With Trump and Daring Anyone Else to Buy Warner Bros. Discovery”
FEATURE, Entertainment (Over 1,000 Words)
Trish Deitch, Variety, “‘I Can’t Not Be Who I Am’: Jamie Lee Curtis on Her 47-Year Career, Falling in Love With Christopher Guest and Why She Hopes Charlie Kirk Found God”
FEATURE (Under 1,000 Words)
Selome Hailu, Variety, “How Planned Parenthood’s Caren Spruch Works With Lena Dunham and Other Creatives to Sensitively Portray Abortion on Screen
ENTERTAINMENT FEATURE, TV/Streaming Related
Brent Lang, Variety, “Benedict Cumberbatch Tells All on Doctor Strange’s Future, His New Sundance Film and Not Being Your Typical Movie Star: ‘I’m Not Brad, I’m Not Leo’”
Ramin Setoodeh, Variety, “Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield and Ayo Edebiri Aren’t Holding Back: ‘After the Hunt’ Stars on Making the Year’s Most Provocative Movie”
FILM FEATURE
Emily Longeretta, Variety, “How ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Revived Itself in Season 34 and Brought Back Must-See Live TV — But How Will They Top It?”
Todd Spangler, Variety, “YouTube at 20: How the Video Colossus Launched the Creator Economy and Turned From Hollywood Foe to Friend”
MUSIC FEATURE
Jem Aswad, Variety, “Paul McCartney Electrifies New York’s 575-Capacity Bowery Ballroom With Career-Spanning Surprise Set”
Selome Hailu, Variety, “Sabrina Carpenter’s Wild Year of ‘Man’s Best Friend,’ Taylor Swift and Growing Up: ‘It’s Not My Fault I Got a Job When I Was 12 and You Won’t Let Me Evolve’”
Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, “Inside the Diddy Trial Circus: How Screaming Fans, Baby Oil and Street Preachers Turned the Courthouse Into a Madhouse”
ENTERTAINMENT FEATURE, Theater/Performing Arts Related
Brent Lang, Variety, “Inside Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Comeback: From Hit Revivals of ‘Evita’ and ‘Sunset Blvd.’ to a Dramatic Overhaul to His Entertainment Company”
Chris Willman, Variety, “Adam Lambert on Playing the Emcee in Broadway’s ‘Cabaret,’ and Why Its Anti-Fascist Themes Hit Harder Now Than When He Began the Run: ‘It’s Wild, How Relevant It Is’”
ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
Rebecca Rubin, Variety, “Taylor Swift’s ‘Release Party of a Showgirl’ Continues Streak of Unexpected Box Office Saviors”
Todd Spangler, Variety, “How Netflix’s WB Megadeal Stunned Hollywood — and Sparked a Fight From David Ellison”
PERSONALITY PROFILE, Film Personalities
Kate Aurthur, Variety, “Tatum O’Neal Is Still Here: The Oscar Winner on Surviving Addiction, a Stroke and Coming to Terms With Being Left Out of Her Father’s Will”
Trish Deitch, Variety, “‘I Can’t Not Be Who I Am’: Jamie Lee Curtis on Her 47-Year Career, Falling in Love With Christopher Guest and Why She Hopes Charlie Kirk Found God”
PERSONALITY PROFILE, TV Personalities
Angelique Jackson, Variety, “Harrison Ford Goes Deep on ‘Star Wars,’ His First Emmy Nomination for ‘Shrinking’ and the Future of America: ‘Rich Get Richer. Poor Get Poorer. That Ain’t Right’”
Michael Schneider, Variety, “Kathy Bates, Still Badass: The Icon on ‘Matlock,’ Saying ‘F– You’ to Weight Loss Critics and Why Being an Old Emmy Nominee Is a ‘Badge of Honor’”
PERSONALITY PROFILE, Music/Theater Personalities
Angelique Jackson, Variety, “A$AP Rocky, Movie Star: The Rapper on Method Acting With Denzel Washington, Planning a Film With Rihanna and Being ‘Blessed to Work’ After Assault Trial”
PERSONALITY PROFILE, Politics/Business/Arts Personalities
Elsa Keslassy, Variety, “Is Mubi Really Worth $1 Billion? Inside Efe Cakarel’s Plan to Make the Global Streamer Cooler Than A24”
ENTERTAINMENT NEWS or FEATURE (Over 5 Minutes)
Tiana DeNicola, Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, “Bill Burr Takes Us Behind the Scenes of His Comedy Special ‘Drop Dead Years’”
ENTERTAINMENT PERSONALITY PROFILE/INTERVIEW
Tiana DeNicola, Variety, “Hilary Duff on Her Musical Comeback, the Stories Behind Her Early Hits, and the Role That Started It All”
AUDIO JOURNALISM
ANCHOR/HOST
Michael Schneider, Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangcay, Emily Longeretta, Variety
PERSONALITY PROFILE/INTERVIEW, Entertainment Personalities (Over 10 Minutes)
Angelique Jackson, Variety, “Marsai Martin on Navigating the Transition From Child Producer to Mogul in the Making: ‘I’ve Learned What It Takes to Become a Legend’”
Michael Schneider, Variety, “‘The Daily Show’s’ Ronny Chieng on Recently Becoming a U.S. Citizen: ‘It’s a Weird Time to Do It’”
ONLINE
CULTURE NEWS, TV/Film Related
Rebecca Rubin, Variety, “More Products, Less Press: How ‘Wicked: For Good’ Marketing Stayed Relevant While Scaling Back”
Brian Steinberg, Variety, “CBS Put ‘Evening News’ Through Massive Overhaul. Now It Needs People to Watch”
CULTURE NEWS, Profiles
Emily Longeretta, Variety, “Phil Feeds Somebody: Phil Rosenthal and Daughter Lily Plan to Fix America With Their Family Diner”
Todd Spangler, Variety, “Meet Harry, Ron and Hermione From Audible’s ‘Harry Potter’ Series: Young Actors on the ‘Mind-Blowing’ Thrill of Being Cast in Iconic Roles, Becoming Real-Life Friends and More”
CULTURE NEWS, Events
Elsa Keslassy, Variety, “Israeli Filmmakers Warn an Industry Boycott Will Hurt ‘Those Who Are Fighting to Tell the Stories of This Conflict’”
ENTERTAINMENT NEWS, Film/Broadcast
Marc Malkin, Variety, “Brandon Routh on ‘Ick’ and Why David Corenswet Is a ‘Fantastic’ Superman: ‘I Cried No Less Than Three Times’”
Michael Schneider, Variety, “PBS CEO Reveals Plan to Save Stations and Programming After Trump Killed Funding, Admits There’s No ‘White Knight That Will Save Us’”
ENTERTAINMENT NEWS, Music/Performing Arts
Tiana DeNicola, Variety, “Reneé Rapp Explores Love With Pop Anthems on Her Bold New Album, ‘Bite Me’: ‘Everything I Make Is Gay’”
Chris Willman, Variety, “Nezza Speaks Out on Defying Dodgers’ Rules by Singing National Anthem in Spanish: ‘I Think God Entered My Body at That Moment’”
INVESTIGATIVE, Entertainment or Business Related
K.J. Yossman, Variety, “Inside the Nightmare Production of Indie Film About Beatles Manager Brian Epstein: ‘I Wish I’d Never Heard the Words “Midas Man”’”
BUSINESS REPORTING
Rebecca Rubin, Naman Ramachandran, Variety, “How China’s ‘Ne Zha 2’ Beat ‘Inside Out 2’ to Become the Highest-Grossing Animated Film in History”
Brian Steinberg, Variety, “TV News Faces Creator Chaos as Anchors Chase Digital Dreams That Bring Big Bucks (or Return Little Reward)”
ACTIVISM JOURNALISM
Pat Saperstein, Variety, “How Entertainment Workers Are Finding New Careers in Homeless Services — With a Little Help From Keanu Reeves”
NEWS FEATURE, Film/Broadcast Related
William Earl, Variety, “Texting, Weed and Sing-Alongs: Four Radical Ideas for Bringing New Audiences to Movie Theaters”
Brent Lang, Variety, “Controversy Swirls, Legal Threats Fly After Sundance Documentary ‘The Stringer’ Questions Origin of Iconic ‘Napalm Girl’ Photo”
Michael Schneider, Variety, “L.A. Reporters Cover Devastation in Their Own Neighborhoods During Wildfires: ‘Feels Like a Nightmare’ and ‘Fatigue Is Setting In’”
NEWS FEATURE, Music/Culture/Performing Arts related
Chris Willman, Variety, “How the Acrisure Arena Became an Unlikely Desert Oasis for Music Fans From Around California… and a Favorite Kickoff Point for Some Major Tours”
TV/STREAMING/RADIO FEATURE
Leo Barraclough, Variety, “‘1001 Frames’ Director on the Audience Response to Her Iranian Audition Room Tale: ‘Ten of the Women Were in the Bathroom Crying’”
FILM FEATURE, Documentaries/Animation/Indies
Rebecca Rubin, Variety, “How Hollywood Finds Its Stars: Behind the Scenes With Casting Directors, the Most Important and Least Understood Job in Movies”
FILM FEATURE, Profiles of Creatives
Leo Barraclough, Variety, “‘Mr. Nobody Against Putin’ Director on Lifting the Lid on Kremlin Pro-War Propaganda in Sundance Documentary”
Angelique Jackson, Variety, “Ryan Coogler Dissects ‘Sinners’: How the Blockbuster Filmmaker Reinvented the Vampire Movie on a Near-Impossible Timeline”
Michaela Zee, Variety, “How Alexandre Desplat Crafted the Score for Wes Anderson’s ‘The Phoenician Scheme’ — With a Nod to Stravinsky”
FILM FEATURE, Production Histories, Business
Kate Aurthur, Variety, “Bravo Boss Frances Berwick on the ‘Joy’ of BravoCon and Who Can Be Forgiven by the Network (Karen Huger!) — and Who Can’t (Jen Shah, Probably)”
Selome Hailu, Variety, “‘Forever’: Mara Brock Akil on How the Period Before George Floyd’s Murder, the Dangers of Smartphones and Judy Blume Inspired Her Black Teen Love Story
Pat Saperstein, Variety, “How ‘Dark Winds’ Found the Perfect Home at Camel Rock, the First Native-Owned Movie Studio: ‘All the Exteriors Are a Character’”
FILM FEATURE, Production Histories, Shows
Kate Aurthur, Adam B. Vary, Variety, “‘I’m at a Loss Without the Show’: Inside the Final Days of ‘Stranger Things’ and the Cast’s Heartbreaking Goodbyes”
Angelique Jackson, Variety, “How Glen Powell Felt When 92,000 Georgia Football Fans Booed Him for ‘Chad Powers’: ‘I Don’t Know If I’ve Ever Been So Ready to Run Through a Wall’”
Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, “Vince Gilligan and Rhea Seehorn on What ‘Pluribus’ Is Really About, Why Hollywood ‘Needs More Heroes’ and How Silicon Valley Has ‘F—ed Up the World’”
MUSIC FEATURE, Groups
Chris Willman, Variety, “Wet Leg Is Back to Save Rock With ‘Moisturizer,’ as Rhian Teasdale Undergirds the Guitars With ‘Soppy Love Songs’: ‘Queer Love Is So Interesting to Me Right Now’”
THEATER/ARTS FEATURE
Naman Ramachandran, Variety, “‘MJ the Musical’ Star Jamaal Fields-Green on the ‘Huge
Chris Willman, Variety, “Reimagining ‘Hamlet’ as a Lynchian L.A. Story: Director Robert O’Hara on Doing Shakespeare With a Noir/’Mulholland Drive’ Twist at the Mark Taper
VISUAL ARTS/DESIGN/ARCHITECTURE FEATURE
Pat Saperstein, Variety, “‘Marty Supreme’: How Production Designer Jack Fisk Worked With Josh Safdie to Recreate 1950s New York: ‘He Was Always Ahead of Me’”
PERSONALITY PROFILE, Film/TV Personalities
Marc Malkin, Variety, “Barbra Streisand on Her New Album, Not Being Paid Enough for ‘Meet the Fockers’ and if She’ll Ever Direct or Perform Live Again”
Michael Schneider, Variety, “Why ‘It’s Always Sunny’ for Rob McElhenney and Kaitlin Olson: A Power Couple Who Juggle Four Hit TV Shows, a Winning Soccer Team and Ryan Reynolds
PERSONALITY PROFILE, Music/Art Personalities
Ellise Shafer, Variety, “Diana Silvers on Her Debut Album ‘From Another Room’ and Following Folk Heroes by Speaking Truth to Power: ‘If Your Art Doesn’t Scare You, It’s Not Really Worth It’ (EXCLUSIVE)”
COLUMNIST on Entertainment/Media
Alison Herman, Variety
Chris Willman, Variety
ENTERTAINMENT COMMENTARY, Arts
Ellise Shafer, Variety, “In Defense of Rachel Zegler and Jamie Lloyd’s Controversial ‘Evita’ Balcony Scene: It Gets to the Heart of What the Musical Is Really About”
Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, “Oasis Brings Britpop and Bromance to Triumphant New Jersey Stadium Show”
Chris Willman, Variety, “How Big Is the Grammys’ Country Music Problem?”
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