Reel Winners: Movie Award Trivia

M. Wayne Cunningham is a past executive director of the Saskatchewan
Arts Board and the former director of Academic and Career Programs at
East Kootenay Community College.

Written by a grandmaster in the art of movie trivia, Reel Winners is an
invaluable compilation of obscure information about movie awards ranging
from the Canadian Film Awards, to the People’s Choice Awards, to the
Golden Globes, to—most prestigious of all—the Oscars.

The book’s 10 chapters cover the history and nature of various award
presentations, and include trivia about best actors, best actresses,
best directors, best pictures, best songs, and best acceptance speech
quotations. Also featured are “worsts,” including Blackwell’s
“worst dressed women” awards and the 1996 film that won a Golden
Raspberry Award as the Worst Film of the Decade. A nasty little secret
is exposed in the answer to the query, “What 1981 award is generally
acknowledged as the lowest point in the history of the Golden Globes?”


This is a fun volume for pop culture buffs and film aficionados with
either a serious or passing interest in the medium. A selected
bibliography provides further resources for mining the flotsam and
jetsam of the entertainment industry.