NEWS: TFO Digital Content, TV Shows Nominated at Youth Media Alliance 2014

Groupe Média TFO and its production partners have received 12 Prix d'excellence of the Youth Media Alliance (YMA) nominations for digital content and shows.

Winners will be announced at a gala to be held on May 27, at Maison de Radio-Canada in Montréal.

"Over the last years, TFO has seized every opportunity to offer rich and unique programming for children and youths, making it accessible to consumers wherever and whenever they want. I must give special congratulations to the producers, whose creativity and expertise enrich our programming, a veritable well of high quality educational content for parents and children," said Laurent Guérin, Executive Director of Web and Television Content at Groupe Média TFO.

For more info and a list of the nominated productions, please click here

EVENTS: Youth Media Alliance Announces Children, Youth and Media Conference

Youth Media Alliance is pleased to announced that Hedda Sharapan, Director of Early Childhood Initiatives at The Fred Rogers Company, and Angela Santomero, Executive Producer of the new preschool animated series inspired by Mister Rogers' Neighborhood: Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, will be opening the 2011 Children, Youth & Media conference.

It was natural for Youth Media Alliance to invite the company whose founder, Fred Rogers, dedicated his life to serving children, especially since his first appearance in front of the camera as "Mister Rogers" was for CBC in Toronto in the 1960s. Hedda Sharapan will be presenting the past, present and future of The Fred Rogers Company. She will provide an overview of the original Neighborhood series that revolutionized children's media - how it was designed, what it was proven to do, and how it evolved over time. Angela Santomero, a leading producer of US children's television and creator of Blue's Clues & Super Why!, will talk about the pressure of re-imagining this beloved series for today's audiences. She will demonstrate how the principles have endured but the aesthetic has changed. The presentation will include previously unseen clips of the new four-year-old Daniel Tiger, son of the original Daniel Tiger, and his preschool friends. The series will be launched in fall 2012 on PBS KIDS, together with a content-rich website, including interactive games for kids, online resources for parents and teachers, and other cross-platform content. Animation for the series is being done in Toronto by the Canadian partner for the series, 9 Story Entertainment.

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NEWS: Youth Media Alliance Intros Special Award for Interactive Web Content (CANADA)

A new award for interactive Web or mobile projects has been announced by the Youth Media Alliance, as part of its 2011 English-Language Awards of Excellence competition.

YMA will be handing out the first-ever Special Jury Award to an original or convergent digital media project this year, one that stands out for the positive values it presents to young Canadians.

YMA says the new award was instituted both to provide an added boost to the Canadian mobile/Web content production industry, and to help the organization achieve its goals of encouraging and promoting screen-based productions of the highest quality.

The award winner will have provided young users with content that promoted healthy living; informed them of the importance of education, tolerance, physical fitness, and solidarity; or conveyed Canadian values.

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NEWS / EVENTS: Media Conference Looks at Screen-based Youth Productions

Youth Media Alliance (formerly the Alliance for Children and Television) welcomed nearly 200 youth production professionals to Média-Jeunes, a conference held on November 18 and 19 in Montreal. Thanks to the involvement of 28 speakers and panellists, including about 10 professionals from English Canada, France and the United States, conference participants were able to explore a whole range of experiences.

The event focused on different facets of screen-based youth productions: the future of youth animation in Quebec; conveying positive messages to young people; the much-heralded death of television; a portrait of youth production through the Canadian Media Fund; audience migration to new platforms; and building communities around a television brand.

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NEWS: The Alliance for Children and Television adopts a new name: Youth Media Alliance

MONTREAL, Nov. 18 /CNW Telbec/ - The Alliance for Children and Television is expanding its base and changing its name to Youth Media Alliance (YMA). The association's chair Peter Moss made the announcement today in conjunction with the Média-Jeunes conference being held in Montreal until tomorrow. "This new name more clearly defines our current mission, at a time when we're working in various ways to improve the quality of screen-based content for Canadian children and teens. In a world where more and more content is being delivered on new platforms, especially for young people, Youth Media Alliance intends to continue focusing its efforts on all screen-based media," said Moss. Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/166654#ixzz15kSdqHUK