Golfing great Greg Norman will be honoured alongside Australian actors Simon Baker and Toni Collette at next week’s G’Day USA Australia Week black tie ball in Hollywood. The star-studded ball is the highlight of the two-week festival which will see events held in in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, San Diego and Palm Springs to promote all things Australian. The ball will be held on January 16.

Toni has received a Golden Globe nomination in the category Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Musical Or Comedy for “United States of Tara”. She shares this category with Courteney Cox (Cougar Town), Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie), Tina Fey (30 Rock) and Lea Michele (Glee). This is Toni’s fourth nomination, she has received previous mentions for “Muriel’s Wedding”, “Tsunami: The Aftermath” and “Little Miss Sunshine”. Congratulations!

Toni has again won an AFI Award – the sixth in her career – this time the International Award for Best Actress for “United States of Tara”. Congratulations! I’m trying to find a video clip of her acceptance speech, so if anyone can help, please drop me a line.

Many thanks to Jaymie for the heads-up that The Boston (USA) Jewish Film Festival will be screening “Mary and Max” on November 12 – and also “Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger”, starring Toni Collette, on November 12 and 14.

The nominees for the 2009 Samsung Mobile AFI Awards were announced on Wednesday 28 October 2009, at a special event held at the Chauvel Cinema, Sydney. And Toni’s role as Tara has won her yet another award nomination, this time as Best International Actress for the Australian AFI Award. The contenders in this category are Rose Byrne for “Damages,” Toni for “United States of Tara” and Melissa George and Mia Wasikowska for “In Treatment.” Additionally, “Mary & Max” has received a nomination among the Best Feature Films. The AFI Awards will be handed out on December 12, 2009.

Over 120,000 people have attended the Sound Relief fundraising concerts in Sydney and Melbourne to help aid victims of devastating fires and floods in Australia. Artists including Kings Of Leon, Coldplay, The Bee Gees’ Barry Gibb, Olivia Newton-John, Gabriella Cilmi, Taylor Swift, electro-poppers Architecture In Helsinki and The Presets played the concerts, which were held simultaneously at the Sydney and Melbourne cricket grounds. The event raised thousands of dollars, with all of the profits going toward appeals in Victoria for victims of the recent bushfires that killed over 200 people in February, and to Queensland for people affected by ongoing flooding. Possibly the most poignant moment of the day, was when actress Toni Collette united both cities in a minute’s silence to remember those that did not survive Black Saturday, immediately following the Princes’ historic address.