TORONTO – The Alliance for Children and Television (ACT) honoured Canada’s top English-language children’s programs at the 2005 Awards of Excellence Gala last night.
The jury of industry creators and craftspeople selected the following award winners:
Grand Prize for Best Program – All Categories, sponsored by CBC: This Is Daniel Cook, produced by marblemedia and Sinking Ship Productions, broadcast by Treehouse TV, TVOntario, Knowledge, Access and SNC.
Award of Excellence, Animation, Ages 3–5, sponsored by Zone3: Peep and the Big Wide World, produced by 9 Story Entertainment Inc., broadcast by TVOntario.
Award of Excellence, All Genres, Ages 3–5, sponsored by TVOntario: This Is Daniel Cook, produced by marblemedia and Sinking Ship Productions, broadcast by Treehouse TV, TVOntario, Knowledge, Access and SNC.
Award of Excellence, Animation, Ages 6–8, sponsored by TVOntario: Noël Noël, produced by the National Film Board of Canada, broadcast by Teletoon.
Award of Excellence, All Genres 6–8, sponsored by the Family Channel: The Blobheads, produced by Decode Entertainment Inc. and Wark Clements Production, broadcast by CBC.
Award of Excellence, Animation 9–14, sponsored by Hit Entertainment: Delta State, produced by Nelvana Ltd., broadcast by YTV.
Award of Excellence, All Genres 9–12, sponsored by Mercury Filmworks: Ex Aequo – Radio Free Roscoe, produced by Decode Entertainment Inc., broadcast by the Family Channel and My Brand New Life, produced by the National Film Board of Canada and Les Productions La Fête (Trading) Inc., broadcast by YTV.
Award of Excellence, All Genres Teens, sponsored by TVOntario: Ex Aequo – Instant Star, produced by Epitome Pictures Inc., broadcast by CTV, and Street Cents, produced and broadcast by CBC.
Award of Excellence, Interstitials All Ages, sponsored by Collideascope Digital Productions: Doodlez, produced by Cellar Door Productions, broadcast by Teletoon.
Award of Excellence, Best Website, sponsored by Studio B Productions: This Is Daniel Cook, produced by marblemedia and Sinking Ship Productions.
In addition to granting awards for the best programs, the ACT presented two special awards celebrating the remarkable work of three homegrown creators:
Sponsored by Decode Entertainment, the Outstanding Achievement Award goes to a person who has had a distinguished career in youth programming. This year’s Outstanding Achievement Award was presented to J. Kevin Wright for his exceptional contribution to youth programming. Kevin Wright is senior vice-president of Astral Television Networks, a division of Astral Media.
In this role, Wright oversees the acquisition, commissioning and scheduling of programming for the Family Channel, Mpix and The Movie Network. Wright joined the Astral team in December 1995 as Vice-President of Programming for the Family Channel. Simultaneous to this responsibility, he was also vice-president, programming, for the animation specialty channel Teletoon. Prior to Astral Television Networks, Wright worked for more than six years at YTV, a Canadian specialty channel for kids.
Sponsored by Teletoon, the Emerging Talent Award goes to marblemedia’s Mark Bishop and Matt Hornburg. This award is presented to a person 30 or younger who demonstrates exceptional talent and promise in the children’s programming industry. In addition to taking home this prestigious award, the marblemedia founders won three Awards of Excellence for the program This Is Daniel Cook, demonstrating that young Canadian talent is a force to be reckoned with. In presenting the Emerging Talent Award, the ACT aims to encourage up-and-coming creators in their efforts to enrich the television experience of young Canadians.
As president and co-founder of marblemedia, Mark plays a key role in developing both television and interactive projects, and is responsible for building strong relationships with broadcasters, content developers, technology partners and investors. A partner and producer at marblemedia, Matt Hornburg is responsible for leading creative teams to execute both television and digital media projects, including deafplanet.com, thisisdanielcook.com, Burnt Toast Interactive and the pairing of SwanS DVD-ROM. The ACT has also invited Mark Bishop and Matt Hornburg to participate in the first-ever Youth & Media Conference in Toronto in November 2005.
Finally, the ACT presented the Special Jury Award, sponsored by the Independent Production Fund, to a team for outstanding achievement in a craft category. The Special Jury Award went to the design team for Delta State, produced by Nelvana Ltd. and broadcast by Teletoon. The jury stressed that the original visual design creates a believable, yet striking and imaginative futuristic world that engages the audience and stimulates them to appreciate this wholly original approach to animated images.
The Alliance for Children and Television is a not-for-profit organization whose purpose is to promote youth television production of the highest calibre. In addition to granting Awards of Excellence, the ACT has for three decades been offering its members professional development activities such as seminars, conferences, workshops and screenings, helping producers and other creators keep up with today’s ever-changing youth culture. The ACT’s 2005 Awards of Excellence are presented with financial support from the CBC, the Independent Production Fund, Decode Entertainment, Teletoon, TVOntario, Corus Entertainment, Studio B Productions, the Family Channel, Mercury Filmworks, Hit Entertainment, Collideascope Digital Productions and Zone3.
