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Woman to be inducted into Hall of Fame

It's been six years of campaigning, but all the signs point towards Denise or Noni finally being honoured tonight.

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Industry chatter points towards another woman finally being inducted into the Logies Hall of Fame tonight.

Denise Drysdale or Noni Hazlehurst are the front runners to receive the honour.

Kerri-Anne Kennerley, Caroline Jones, Jana Wendt, Noeline Brown and Lorraine Bayly would also be worthy inductees to join 28 men and 1 woman (Ruth Cracknell).

I will be happy with any of them.

It has been six long years of campaigning for this imbalance to be corrected, when I first asked prominent women what they thought of this oversight.

In 2010 Denise Drysdale told me, “I’d vote for Hazel Phillips. She won a Logie in 1967.”

When I suggested Ding Dong should be there herself, she replied, “I don’t really think I’ve done enough.”

Kerri-Anne Kennerley said, “I think it’s great to celebrate everybody in television, when it’s timely. Hall of Fame is for the people who have put in so many years and are perhaps at their twilight.”

Last year Noni Hazlehurst said of the imbalance, “That’s shameful, but it reflects society at large really, doesn’t it?

“I’m sure there are many deserving people. We’ll just have to find the judges and give them a kick up the bum.”

Last year I decided to step up the campaign, asking the men of television to sing the praises of their female colleagues. Big name stars including Rove McManus, Karl Stefanovic, Eddie McGuire, David Koch, Charlie Pickering, Shaun Micallef, Scott Cam, Adam Hills, Andrew O’Keefe and Tony Jones all backed the call.

After that article Denise Drysdale told me, “I couldn’t get over how many people you asked. I don’t know those people personally, so for them to say such lovely things I was just chuffed.”

The #morelogiewomen hashtag was also launched on radio and took off, with coverage in the press and TV. I knew it was having effect when last year comedian Denise Scott joked during the presentation itself that the men’s loo resembled the Hall of Fame: a small room full of blokes and no place for the likes of her. Now the issue was in the room and on the table.

Tonight we should finally see a pay-off. My thanks to all readers who have supported this over the years.

And take a bow ladies. You deserve it.

10 Responses

  1. Incidentally, with the 50th anniversary of ‘Play School’ upon us, I heartily endorse your suggestions for Noni Hazlehurst to get the nod. However, I also think that Benita Collings would be a worthy and timely inductee.

  2. Yes, the gender imbalance needs to be addressed. Yes, there are so many worthy inductees (men, women and programs) who repeatedly miss the boat. I personally think that what needs to happen is a special one-off Hall of Fame event, inducting several glaring omissions. Maybe have three or four inductions per television genre, then resume having one inductee per year at the regular Logies ceremony.

  3. Easy solved have 5 categories every year, such as Male/Female Presenter to cover the likes of Caroline Jones, Actor/Actress and Program.

  4. David Knox, do you know if there will be an encore of the Logies presentation ? I am staying in a cabin in country QLD, and the TV doesn’t work. I have watched the Logies every year since I was a little kid, and I would be devastated to miss it 🙁

  5. Great work with this, David. It is sorely overdue. They could comfortably induct half a dozen very deserving women. Of course, if they were to do that at a single awards ceremony, it would be akin to publicly admitting that they have got it wrong for so many years.

    The alternative, under the current arrangement, would be to induct a woman for the next 4 or 5 consecutive years. However, this would still be seen as righting a wrong, would smack of tokenism, and there would no doubt be a public outcry about how it was sexist because men weren’t getting a look in.

    The only solution that would be palatable to most people would be to induct a man and a woman each year, with the option to add a program every few years as desired/deserved.

  6. They should promote the Hall of Fame inductions ahead of time…I don’t understand why these need to be kept under wraps similar to the awards?

    If the announcement was made prior, it would give an opportunity to profile the nominees in different media to generate further interest in the telecast and educate about the Hall of Famers achievements.

  7. Yay! As most of your readers and you, David, applaud this move as do I. If it is only 1 woman tonight, it will attract some criticism of choice unfortunately, due to the fact there are at least a dozen women who should be in there. So which one is perceived to be the most deserving? That is going to be so subjective and hence divisive. For me it needs to be Caroline Jones. If it is Noni or Denise, it will still attract arguments of why them? Although Noni has covered so many genres and roles in her career. Should it at this point be for someone with longevity? Otherwise it may look like a random choice. Just my musings, but i welcome the induction (s). A bevvy would be better!

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