The ICG Publicist Guild announced its annual awards nominees.

The Press Award, which honors outstanding journalists who cover the entertainment industry: Nikki Finke (L.A. Weekly/Deadline Hollywood Daily), Bill Keveney (USA Today), Scott Mantz (“Access Hollywood”), Claudia Puig (USA Today), Anne Thompson (Daily Variety) and Susan Wloszczyna (USA Today).

(Thompson’s readers weigh in.)

The Les Mason Award, the highest honor paid a publicist for lifetime achievement: Tony Angellotti, Claudia Gray, Mary Hunter, Pat Kingsley, Stan Rosenfield and Deborah Wuliger.

Judd Apatow will be honored with the motion picture showmanship award and Peter Roth, president of Warner Bros. Television, will be named 2008 television showman of the year.

The Guild will bestow the awards at 45th annual Publicists Awards luncheon on February 5th.

And at Variety, in a burst of candor, Byron Perry admits to the tedium of writing about nominations:

Noms were also announced for the Maxwell Weinberg Publicist Showman Awards for Television and Motion Picture, which honors union publicists for achievements in publicity and promotion during the previous calendar year. I could add those noms here but I thought this was getting long