The Constellation Awards, organized by Polaris Con sponsors TCON, are billed as Canada's first and only "national fan-nominated, fan-voted set of awards celebrating excellence in science fiction television and film," and the just-announced first roster of nominees for best sci-fi series of 2006 is leaning heavily on Canada-friendly productions. These nominations are fun to look at just because there are so few awards aimed solely at genre TV, so the whole "let's ignore sci-fi/fantasy" thing isn't a factor.

What's most interesting about this lot is the attention they're drawing to buzz-hungry, Vancouver-filmed Supernatural: both of its stars and the show are nominated, and it's up for visual effects and cinematography in a the category of best technical achievement.

The male nomines are: Anthony Michael Hall (The Dead Zone), Ben Browder (Stargate SG-1, which is filmed in Vancouver as well), David Tennant (CBC co-produced Doctor Who), Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles (Supernatural), and Masi Oka (Heroes, which, amazingly, is all-American). Fan-driven awards tend to emphasize the young and/or cute, but maybe Jamie Bamber could have cadged a spot, if Edward James Olmos wasn't pretty enough?

The female nominees are: Billie Piper (twice, for two different episodes of Doctor Who's season 2), Claudia Black (Stargate SG-1), Elisabeth Sladen (for her fantastic guest spot on Doctor Who), Hayden Panettiere (Heroes), and Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica, which is also filmed in Vancouver).

And for best sci-fi show, the nominees are: Battlestar Galactica, Doctor Who, Heroes, Stargate SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis, and Supernatural.

The winners will be announced on the weekend of July 6-8, 2007 at Polaris 21. Canadians and Polaris 21 attendees can still vote online or by mail up through June 15.