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ARTISTS
Best Local Actor
Sarah Polley
Don McKellar
Best Local Author
Margaret Atwood
Michael Ondaatje
Best Emerging Author
Sheila Heti
Camilla Gibb
Best Local Band
Barenaked Ladies
The Sadies
Best Local Bassist
Geddy Lee - Rush
Chris Murphy - Sloan
Best Local Busker
Ben Kerr
Graeme Kirkland
Best Local Choreographer
Debbie Wilson
Danny Grossman
Best Local Classical Musician
Eve Egoyan
Jeanne Lamon - Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra
Best Local Dance Company
OMO Dance Company
87 Wade Ave, Unit 101, 416-516-5262
Soles Dance Company
1643 Dufferin, 416-656-1793
Best Local Drummer
Graeme Kirkland
Neil Peart - Rush
Best Local Fashion Designer
Comrags
Judy Cornish & Joyce Gunhouse
654 Queen W, 416-360-7249
Hoax Couture
176 John, 416-597-8924
Best Local Filmmaker
Atom Egoyan
Don McKellar
Best Local Graffiti Artist
Ledie Toscano
Runt
Best Local Guitarist
Kurt Swinghammer
Jeff Healey
Best Local Keyboard Player
Tyler Yarema
Kevin Hearn - Barenaked Ladies
Best Local Large Theatre Company
Canadian Stage Company
26 Berkeley, 416-367-8243
Soulpepper Theatre Company
260 Adelaide E, 416-203-6264
Best Local Small Theatre Company
Factory Theatre
125 Bathurst, 416-504-4473
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
12 Alexander, 416-975-9130
Best Local Playwright
Jason Sherman
Ann-Marie MacDonald
Best Local Songwriter
Sarah Harmer
Ron Sexsmith
Best Local Stand-Up Comedian
Sean Cullen
Maggie Cassella
Best Local Tattoo Artist
Daemon Rowanchilde
Urban Primitive, 391 Ontario, 416-966-9155
Pete Commanda
Passage Body Piercing by Tee, 473 Church, Ste 2, 416-603-0145
Best Local Vocalist
Ember Swift
Hawksley Workman
Best Painter
Fiona Smyth
Mendelson Joe
Best Photographer
Ed Burtynsky
Michael Chambers
Best Multimedia Artist
Natalie Kovacs
Karma Clarke-Davis
Best Sculptor
Spring Hurlbut
Maryon Kantaroff
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best local filmmaker working under the radar
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Jim Allodi (writer, actor, director)
As an actor, he has performed onstage in theatre and in some crappy American movies - he's currently onscreen playing the video director in Glitter. His four short films showcase his wry sense of humour and solid writing skills. But Allodi's talents coalesced last year when he released his excellent first feature, The Uncles, which he wrote and directed.
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local artist who most ought to be a superstar
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Julie Voyce (Represented by Paul Petro Contemporary Art, 265A Queen West - moving to 980 Queen West next month - 416-979-7874)
Bursting onto the scene with fun-filled, femme-powered imagery, Voyce was way ahead of her time. Comparable international artists, like American Georganne Deen, are big stars. Voyce should be, too.
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best front man without a shirt
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Matt Murphey of Flashing Lights
- photo by KATHRYN GAITENS
Matt Murphey
Although Flashing Lights singer/guitarist Matt Murphey will likely deny there's anything calculated about his tendency to perform bare-chested, the frequency with which he tears off his shirt during shows suggests otherwise. In any case, as long as the deafening screams of lustful delight continue each time Murphey reaches for a button, you can't really blame him for keeping it in the act.
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painter most other painters envy
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John "Jack" Brown (Represented by Olga Korper Gallery, 17 Morrow, 416-538-8220)
A slow-working technical genius, Brown would repaint every canvas eternally in his quest for perfection. He gets closer than most ever hope to.
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best new wearer of tights and tutu
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Xiao Nan Yu
Call it charisma, star quality, whatever. The dramatic and ultra-expressive Yu has it in spades. Her opening-night performance in Onegin, as a second soloist, was revelatory. With her recent promotion to principal dancer, there's lots more to come.
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best reason to close your eyes at the theatre
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Richard Feren
Sound designer Feren's eerie, always evocative compositions are as important as a character or scene from a play. Helping define the experience of a show (You Are Here, This Hotel), they burn their way into your memory.
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best dj crate
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Jason Palma
- photo by KC ARMSTRONG
Jason Palma's
Check out one of DJ Jason Palma's Movement sessions and you'll not only hear an impressively diverse selection of the hottest nu-jazz and house joints, but he'll also drop a mind-bending assortment of frightfully rare vinyl gems from the past - material he's scored in local stores, on frequent road trips to Ohio and on eBay while most other DJs are sleeping. Don't even think of bidding against him on an obscure SABA-label banger.
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best actor we don't want to lose to stratford or shaw
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Kristen Thomson
- photo by david laurence
Kristen Thomson
Just a few years ago, Thomson earned her first Dora playing the manic young mom trying to get her baby back in George F. Walker's Problem Child. Last spring, she added two more to her mantle - one for acting, one for writing - for her first play, the equally heartbreaking I, Claudia, in which she played everything from a precocious preteen to a lecherous senior citizen. Along the way, she's made us see classic characters by Tennessee Williams, Anton Chekhov and Eugene Ionesco in new ways. Next up, she's taking part in Passe Muraille's all-female Midsummer Night's Dream. For Puck's sake, there's nothing she can't do.
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best band to invite to a lease-breaking party
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Killer Elite
- photo by KATHRYN GAITENS
The Killer Elite
Need to get out of the crummy joint you're renting really fast? Just invite the always unruly Killer Elite boys over with their Marshall stacks for a rock-and-roll jam session in your living room. However, if their flame-throwing and chair-splintering club antics are any indication, your lease won't be the only thing that gets broken.
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performer most likely to make us pee our pants laughing
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Shoshana Sperling
- photo by DEBRA FRIEDMAN
Shoshana Sperling
She's barely 5 feet tall, but there's no way you can miss Shoshana Sperling. She's the one who upstaged everyone at that cabaret night you saw a couple of months ago. The one with that strange mixture of endearing insecurity and Borscht Belt bravado. Yes, her. With characters like her health food guru Sunshine Stepper or her Britney Spears knock-off Shasty, she can mug with the best of 'em. But under those always-smiling cheeks is a serious soul pissed off with the world's injustices. Comic? Character actor? Satirist? All of the above, and more. No simple category could contain that full-tilt energy.
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best guitarist still in high school
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Marc Roy
- photo by PAUL TILL
Marc Roy
Looking rumpled and slouchy, 17-year-old Marc Roy doesn't seem all that special as he saunters onto the Silver Dollar stage with his acoustic guitar for the regular High Lonesome Wednesday bluegrass jam. But when he steps forward for a solo, stand back - the kid can pick up a helluva storm. Heartbreak Hill's Chris Quinn and Dan Whiteley were so impressed with Roy's effortless string technique that they've decided to reform their old group, One Horse Town, and make Roy the featured attraction.
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