Variety on show for DIVA
It could be the most diverse DIVA nominees list yet.
A pole dancer, a mainstream musical star and an author from the northern beaches are among the contenders for Drag Industry Variety Awards trophies this year.
Organisers announced the nominees in seven judge-decided categories earlier this week, ahead of the glittering ceremony at Star City on 28 August.
Nominees for other DIVA awards, including the public-decided categories, will be unveiled later in the month.
Among the multiple DIVA nominees announced this week is Sydney Star Observer ‘s Maxi Shield, whose Dragstar column won her a nomination for the Outstanding Achievement in Media Award.
Shield is also nominated twice for a DIVA Variety Award -“ for her pole dancing nightclub shows and for her work hosting Stonewall slimming contest Battle of the Bulge -“ alongside drag luminaries such as Courtney Act and Mitzi Macintosh.
I knew that anyway -“ I’m so popular, Shield said when told of her multiple DIVA nods.
I was waiting up at 6am. I had champagne ready to pop.
Would she be cracking open the bubbly once the nominations were made public later in the week?
Oh no, I drank it already. I got sick of waiting.
In a rare non-showgirl inclusion, northern beaches author and drag expert Carol Langley is also in the running for the media achievement award.
Langley is nominated for her book Beneath The Sequined Surface: An Insight Into Sydney Drag .
In the prestigious Choreographer of the Year category, Freeda Corsett will compete with four other hopefuls including Minnie Cooper and Shelley Legs Diamond.
But Corsett -“ who will star in the upcoming musical version of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert -“ won’t be performing at the DIVA ceremony.
I’m just going to sit there and get drunk and join the bitching, she enthused.
Minnie Cooper, last year’s DIVA Entertainer of the Year and a nominee in five judge-decided categories this year, was more philosophical.
I think, let some other people have a turn [winning], she told the Star .
We have lost some great talented people because they haven’t been recognised for the work they do. I find that really sad.
Cooper predicted an outrage if she won Entertainer of the Year again, after her success last year sparked ill will from drag peers.
Last year I won that award and it should have been considered quite a fantastic award to win.
But the way if affected people around me, in some ways I actually wish I didn’t win it. It was a bit bittersweet for me.
DIVA tickets are on sale through Ticketmaster or at the DIVA website.
THE NOMINEES SO FAR:
Choreographer of the Year
Minnie Cooper
Freeda Corsett
Cast of DIVAstated
Antony Ginandja
Shelley Legs Diamond
Costume Design of the Year
Dallas Della Force
Kirsten Damned
Mitzi Macintosh
Cast of DIVAstated
Mama Shirl
Amelia Airhead
Show of the Year (3 or less)
Rough Trade Hers
Kylie -“ The Singing Budgie Show
Frazzle Dazzle
Hip Hop Replacement
Totally Clueless
Brokeback Fridays
Show of the Year (4 or more)
Dancing Queen The Kylie Celebration
SpARQle
Wizard of Oz
Pop -“ DIVAstated
Lie Back and Think of England -“ Foreplay / Afterglow
Shift -˜ HOT’
Outstanding DIVA Moment
Like A Virgin -“ SpARQle
We will Rock You – Gay School 2
Hung Up -“ Hip Hop Replacement
I should be so lucky -“ Kylie Celebration
What you waiting for -“ Midnight Courtesans
Voodoo Child -“ Rough Trade Hers
-˜Wicked’ – Vanity Faire
Outstanding Achievement in Media
Queer Out West (Radio 89.3fm) -“ team at Queer Out West
Dragstar – Maxi Shield
So Anyway – Mitzi Macintosh
Beneath the Sequined Surface: an insight into Sydney Drag – Carol Langley
DIVA Variety Award
Pole Dancing – Slide/Pure Platinum – Maxi Shield
Live and Intimate – Courtney Act
Battle of the Bulge – Maxi Shield
Live and Intimate – Shauna Jensen
Hats Off – Trevor Ashley and Laurence Stark
Bingay, Big Bingay and Out of town Bingay – Mitzi Macintosh
