Surviving R Kelly named top show at Rockies

Surviving R Kelly was broadcast by Lifetime in January

US cablenet Lifetime’s documentary Surviving R Kelly was named Program of the Year at the Rockie Awards Gala during the Banff World Media Festival in Canada last night.

Produced by Kreativ Inc and Bunim-Murray Productions for Lifetime,the six-part doc series examines the sexual abuse allegations against the singer.

It aired over three nights in January, with Dream Hampton, Joel Karsberg, Jesse Daniels and Tamra Simmons exec producing.

Hampton and Simmons also received the A+E Inclusion Award alongside Lifetime senior VP Miranda Bryant and R Kelly’s former girlfriend Kitti Jones.

Meanwhile, the Grand Jury Prize went to HBO’s Sharp Objects, an eight-episode miniseries based on Gillian Flynn’s thriller novel of the same name.

Created by Marti Noxon, Sharp Objects was produced by Crazyrose, Fourth Born, Blumhouse Television, Tiny Pyro and Entertainment One.

Paul Frieg picked up the Award of Excellence. Frieg is the creator of teen comedy drama Freaks & Geeks and director of romcom movie Bridesmaids, as well as certain episodes of the US version of The Office.

Frieg has also directed episodes of series including Arrested Development, Weeds, Nurse Jackie, Mad Men, 30 Rock, Parks & Recreation, and films such as The Heat, Spy, Ghostbusters: ATC and A Simple Favor.

Showrunner of the Year went to Jed Mercurio, the British screenwriter behind thriller series Bodyguard and Line of Duty. His other credits include Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Critical, Strike Back, Bodies, The Grimleys and Cardiac Arrest.

Other awards were picked up by Kristin Kreuk (Burden of Truth, Euro Trip, Smallville), who won the Canadian Award of Distinction and Justin Simien (Dear White People), who received the Hollywood Reporter Impact Award.

Dear White People, which touches on issues surrounding race relations in the US, began as a feature film in 2014, before being turned into a series for Netflix in 2017. A third season of the series was announced last year.

Lastly, the Innovative Producer Award and Sir Peter Ustinov Comedy Award were awarded to Scott Brothers Entertainment (Property Brothers) and Bill Hader (Barry, Trainwreck, Saturday Night Live) respectively.

Hader has also starred in comedy films such as Superbad, Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder, in addition to creating, directing, writing and producing.