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The Alliance for Children and Television Reveals Award of Excellence Recipients
Montreal, June 1, 2006?The Alliance for Children and Television (ACT) recognized Canada?s finest French-language youth television programs at its Awards of Excellence Gala, held June 1 in Montreal. A total of 10 awards were given out at this major celebration of the children and youth television industry.
Grand Prize for Best Program
Sponsored by CBC/Radio-Canada, the Grand Prize for Best Program goes, by consensus, to the best program out of all nominees. This year?s recipient is Zone3?s Cotoons (aired on Radio-Canada). The show stands out for its bold concept; rising to the challenge of producing a 3D program in French for preschoolers; excellent blending of live-action and animation; the relevance of its message and its knack for speaking to kids; choice and quality of topics covered; and a marked ability to reach its target audience.
Awards of Excellence
Sponsored by the Independent Production Fund, TFO and Hit Entertainment, six Awards of Excellence were given out by the juries to programs that shone for their excellence:
Je vis ta vie (episode: ?Voir la vie différemment?), Instinct Films (aired on TFO)
A+, Pram Québec (aired on VRAK.TV)
Ramdam, Vivaclic (aired on Télé-Québec)
R-Force, R-Force Productions (aired on VRAK.TV)
Kid Paddle, Spectra Animation and Dupuis Audiovisuel (aired on TELETOON)
Banzaï, Productions Pixcom (aired on Télé-Québec)
Award of Excellence for An Accompanying Website
Sponsored by the Bell Fund, this award recognizes a youth or children?s program website that is clearly a cut above in terms of excellence. The award went to the website for the Fairplay / Inpix Media program ADN-X (www.telequebec.tv/adnx), for originality, high level of interest among its target audience, the user-friendliness of creative tools available to Internet users; and the richness and variety of its content, because it encourages innovation and turns the user into a content producer rather than an everyday viewer.
In addition to recognizing the top programs and the best accompanying website, ACT gave out two special awards acknowledging the remarkable work of two homegrown professionals who help make our youth television among the most respected in the world.
Outstanding Achievement Award
Sponsored by Télé-Québec, the Outstanding Achievement Award is presented in recognition of the recipient?s exceptional career in Canadian children?s programming. This prestigious prize salutes the individual?s contributions to the industry, leadership skills, innovativeness, inspirational qualities and career-long commitment to young Canadians.
This year?s Outstanding Achievement Award goes to André A. Bélanger. André has been producing animated kids? series for over 30 years. Since 1967, he?s worked on dozens of projects and founded several production companies. He has collaborated on a number of international co-productions, such as Fennec, Blake & Mortimer, Bob Morane, Marsupilami, Fantômette, La famille Pirates, Les aventures d?une mouche, Papyrus, Xcalibur (3D), and the 3D feature Keana the Prophecy. He has also produced a total of 12 live-action children?s series, including Les débrouillards, Popular Mechanics for Kids (Hearst) and Dans une galaxie près de chez vous (I and II).
Emerging Talent Award
Sponsored by VRAK.TV, the Emerging Talent Award is given to a promising professional under age 30 whose achievements have made him or her a rising star in children?s programming. By publicly recognizing those who are carving out a niche in the industry, this award aims to encourage young creators and craftspeople to excel and, above all, to pursue a career in children?s programming in Canada.
This year?s recipient is Vincent Bolduc. An actor from a young age in television series and youth programming (such as Sur la piste and Les débrouillards), Vincent Bolduc became interested in writing early on and began studying playwriting at the National Theatre School in 1999. As soon as he finished the program, he started writing for the series Ayoye! Vincent soon also began co-hosting and scripting the Radio-Canada program Sofa. For two years, he penned the series Kif kif and demonstrated his gift for writing dialogue for kids of all ages and for providing a nuanced look at the lives of young people. After earning the trust of Téléfiction through different projects, he was asked by Films Vision 4 to write a feature film examining the quest for independence among teens and their path to adulthood.
The ACT?s Awards of Excellence are made possible thanks to financial assistance of CBC/Radio-Canada, Vivavision, Télé-Québec, VRAK.TV, the Independent Production Fund, Cirque du Soleil, Hit Entertainment, TFO, the Bell Fund, the NFB, Pixcom Productions and Zone3.
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Pictures and video on demand.
Information: Domenico Micheletti, ACT Project Coordinator
(514) 597-6809
Young People's Media Network - Coordinator
c/o ECMC (European Centre for Media Competence)
Bergstr. 8 / 11th floor
D-45770 Marl - Germany
Mobile: +49 176 23107083
Email: cschuepp@unicef.org
URL: www.unicef.org/magic
Mailing list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/youthful-media
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