Mumbrella awards night stuff up as no winner announced

From the Crikey grapevine, the latest tips and rumours …

Award rage. Guests at last night’s Publish awards noted a curious omission in the categories. Although two ads were on the shortlist for Ad of the Year, no winner was announced on the night. Instead, taste.com.au’s Glad to Help was highly commended, while the other shortlisted ad, for the BMW 7 Series, wasn’t mentioned at all.

The awards are organised by Mumbrella, so we got in touch with its founder and content director, Tim Burrowes, to ask what was up. “In this category the jury chose to only award a highly commended as the best in the category. Although I wasn’t in the room for their deliberations I understand the jury chose not to name an outright winner,” he told us. The BMW 7 Series ads were several glossy AFR Magazine foil covers to celebrate the new BMW launch.

It’s all very odd. Ms Tips has heard from some of those present that the failure to award a winner caused something of a kerfuffle backstage, with some loudly complaining about the decision (“This is bullshit,” an exec whose team had been shortlisted reportedly said, well within earshot of Ms Tips’ spies). But we still don’t know what the jury’s issue with the ads were. If you do, get in touch.

How much for a ‘larrikin’ font? The ABC has revealed it spent $32,750 on creating its own font. The question of the cost of the OneABC typeface was first raised in Senate estimates in May to new managing director Michelle Guthrie by then-new Liberal Senator James Paterson.

ABC font

Guthrie estimated the cost to be less than $50,000, but the true cost had not yet been revealed. The ABC has released the response to the question this week, and the cost associated with the design and development of the OneABC font was $32,750, excluding GST.

The designer of the typeface, Peter Lofgren, said in April it was designed to “unify” the ABC’s digital presence and to save annual licensing costs associated with the various fonts used across the ABC.

Lofgren describes the font as “uniquely Australian” with a “connection to the land with a coastal and outback feel”:

“It shows influences of a number of other sans serif treatments, such as humanist and grotesque, a nod to the eclectic melting pot of modern Australia. Individual characters also have some quirky details which are slightly larrikin but always purposeful.”

Earlier this month, the ABC’s digital network director, the person behind the typeface decision, Angela Clark, left the ABC to pursue opportunities in the commercial sector.

Motoring enthusiast buys paper mill. As Crikey tracks the careers of the politicians cleaned out in Malcolm Turnbull’s double dissolution election, we find that former senator Ricky Muir has moved on from the halls of Parliament to become his own boss — buying Canningvale Timber in Heyfield, East Gippsland.

“Soon Canningvale Timber will be fully transitioned into Muir Timber and our next journey will be in full swing,” Muir wrote on Facebook.

“It only makes sense that the former timber worker come Senator would end up going back to an industry he knows and loves. But I must admit, I never saw myself actually owning our own milling business.”

The former Motoring Enthusiast senator has worked in timber mills before and campaigned to save jobs in local mills in his time as a senator. Muir wrote that although he and his wife, Kerri-Anne, would be focusing on learning the ropes of small business for the foreseeable future, he could still be back in politics. “Does this mean that our political journey is over? Nope! When the time is right I will strike again.”

Trumped up measurements. After weeks of controversy about Hillary Clinton’s health, Donald Trump has released his own health records, in a television interview with celebrity talk show host Dr Oz. The records are detailed and lists a clean bill of health. The letter, from Dr Harold N Bornstein, revealed that he had only been hospitalised once, and this about his height and weight:

Donald Trump health

“I think if I had one thing, I’d like to lose weight,” Trump told the doctor. “It’s tough because of the way I live, but the one thing I would like to do is be able to drop 15, 20 pounds.”

We are most intrigued that his legendary hair is included in his height measurement, and also that he wears lifts in his shoes.

Bill meets his idol. Labor leader Bill Shorten decided to skip Parliament this week (and now he’s coming back to find that he’s lost the “con” to his “short”), but in the meantime, at least he got a selfie with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.