Awards

Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese ("The Departed," "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull," "Hugo") will present the American Film Institute's 41st Life Achievement Award to comedy master Mel Brooks at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on June 6. Scorsese received the prestigious AFI honor in 1997 for his body of work. Brooks, who has won the Tony, Oscar, Grammy and Emmy, began his career as a comedian on the borscht-belt circuit and as a writer in the early 1950s on the legendary Sid Caesar series "Your Show of Shows.

LAS VEGAS -- On the Billboard stage, there's not much room for surprises, at least not where the awards are concerned. This is a ceremony dictated by radio, sales, streaming and fan voting. So it should be expected that Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber would reign heavily over Sunday's telecast. And they did. Swift walked away with an impressive eight trophies (she was up for 11) and delivered a showstopping performance, and Bieber hit the stage twice in between collecting a handful of awards, including top male artist.

When the producers of "Modern Family" claimed in a full-page Variety ad two years ago that curvaceous star Sofia Vergara would run naked down Sunset Boulevard if the ABC sitcom won the Emmy (it did, and she didn't), it may have seemed as if award campaigning had reached its peak. But the jostling to nab television's top award has only intensified since then. The reason? More new channels struggling to make a name for themselves, bringing with them a greater number of competing programs than ever before.

This post has been updated. See note below for details. The debut album from Shovels and Rope has propelled the Charleston, S.C.-based indie folk-country duo past such stalwarts as Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell , Dwight Yoakam, Jim Lauderdale, Buddy Miller and Richard Thompson to lead the 2013 Americana Music Award nominations with four nods, including album of the year for “O' Be Joyful. " But the veterans weren't far behind, with Harris and Miller collecting three nominations apiece, both also delivering album of the year contenders, and both also in the running for artist of the year, along with Yoakam and Thompson.

Drake leads the list of nominations for the upcoming 2013 BET Awards, which the network revealed Tuesday. The Young Money rapper-singer scored a leading 12 nominations, including an impressive five in the video of the year category. His singles "HYFR" and "Started From the Bottom" will compete against his collaborations with 2 Chainz ("No Lie"), Kendrick Lamar ("Poetic Justice") and A$AP Rocky ("Problems"). Drake is also up for male hip-hop artist alongside 2 Chainz and Lamar , who are tied with eight nods.

Hours after Republican members of Congress sharply questioned Hillary Rodham Clinton and the State Department's handling of the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, the former secretary of State did not explicitly mention the controversy in an appearance Wednesday night. But she did reference partisan bickering in the nation's capital as she accepted an award in Beverly Hills. "We truly, still today - despite all of our partisan wrangling, and the gridlock that sometimes seems to take hold - we stand up for the rights and opportunities of all people," Clinton said in a speech that largely focused on U.S. policy toward Asia.

A jury Wednesday evening awarded $8.8 million to the family of a man fatally shot by a Culver City police officer, attorneys for the family said. The unanimous verdict came in U.S. District Court after jurors deliberated for a few hours over the 2010 death of Lejoy Grissom. Grissom, 27, was shot about midday on April 25 after he was pulled over in a parking lot by an officer on suspicion that he had robbed a nearby electronics store shortly before, said Matthew McNicholas, who represented one of Grissom's four children.

Otis College of Art and Design added a new element to the mix for its 31st annual scholarship benefit and fashion show Saturday night at the Beverly Hilton -- an honor called the Style Icon Award, which was presented to Sally Perrin, L.A.-based creative director of luxury leather goods brand  Perrin Paris . The inaugural award was presented by costume designer Bob Mackie (one of this year's senior design mentors) who noted: "Personal style has no age or social status, and can exist anywhere in life.

NEW YORK -- Some of the most notable prizes given at the James Beard Foundation awards Monday night were those that were most overdue. Sonoma winemaker Merry Edwards won Wine and Spirits Professional for the first time after six nominations. Wylie DuFresne of WD-50 was named the best chef in New York after seven nominations. Dan Barber's Blue Hill won best restaurant after 14 years. San Francisco legend Cecilia Chiang won the lifetime achievement award at 92 years of age, and Maguy LeCoze won outstanding restaurateur - the first woman ever.

President Obama recently groused that no U.S. airport ranked among the world's top 25 airports. If you're a regular traveler to Los Angeles, you may be even more disappointed to learn that Los Angeles International Airport didn't even make the top 100. Obama was referring to a ranking released in April - the Skytrax World Airport Awards - that is based on a survey of 12.1 million travelers around the world. Out of 395 airports worldwide, LAX ranked 109th overall and 24th among 50 airports in North America.