The Programs We Present to Our Children

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Index

Course of the Evening 2 YMA Board of Directors 3 YMA Ofﬁ ce & Gala team 4 Message from the Chair 5 Message from the Executive Director 6 YMA’s Statement of Quality 7 Members of the Jury 8 2011 Awards of Excellence Nominees (All Genres categories) 15 Special Anniversary Outstanding Achievement Award to Degrassi 16 2011 Awards of Excellence Nominees (Animation categories) 17 Special Jury Award – Television – Sponsored by Shaftesbury Films 18 Max the Mutt Animation School & Sheridan College Presentation 20 Emerging Talent Award – Sponsored by Corus Entertainment 22 2011 Awards of Excellence Nominees (Digital and Interactive categories) 24 Special Jury Award – Digital & Interactive Content – Sponsored by Canada Media Fund 26 Outstanding Achievement Award – Sponsored by Independent Production Fund 28 Grand Prize For Best Program All Categories – Sponsored by CBC Television 30 Course of the Evening

• Gala Opening • A word from YMA’s Chair Peter Moss and Executive Director Chantal Bowen • A word from our main sponsor CBC • All Genres 3–5 years category sponsored by Apartment 11 • All Genres 6-8 years category sponsored by Family Channel • All Genres 9–12 years category sponsored by Epitome Pictures • Interstitial All Ages category sponsored by Sinking Ship Entertainment • Special Anniversary Outstanding Achievement Award to Degrassi • Animation 3–5 years category sponsored by TVO • Animation 6–8 years category sponsored by 9 Story Entertainment • Animation 9–14 years sponsor DHX Media • Special Jury Award - Television sponsored by Shaftesbury Kids • Max the Mutt Animation School and Sheridan College presentation • Emerging Talent Award sponsored by Corus Entertainment • Best Convergent Interactive Content sponsored by the Bell Fund • Best Original Interactive Content sponsored by marblemedia • Special Jury Award – Digital and Interactive Content sponsored by the Canada Media Fund • Outstanding Achievement Award sponsored by the Independent Production Fund • Grand Prize for Best Program – All Categories sponsored by CBC • Post-gala reception sponsored by Mercury Filmworks

2 The Youth Media Alliance Board of Directors

EXECUTIVE COMMITEE Chair Vice-Chair Peter Moss Michèle Fortin Independent Producer Chief Executive, Télé-Québec

Secretary Treasurer Michele Paris Claude Joli-Cœur Program Manager, Knowledge Network Director, Business Affairs and (BBC Kids Canada) Legal Services, NFB

DIRECTORS

Guillaume Aniorté Co-CEO, Tribal Nova

Carole Bonneau Vice-President, Programming, TELETOON

Michael Goldsmith Director, Original Programming, Astral Television Networks

Jocelyn Hamilton Vice-President, Original Programming Kids, Comedy, Drama Corus Television

JJ Johnson Partner, Sinking Ship Entertainment

Madeleine Lévesque Development, Sardine Productions

Ira Levy Executive Producer & Partner, Breakthrough Films & Television

Alexandra Raffé Head of Production, Thunderbird Films

Clive Vanderburgh Professor Emeritus

Kim Wilson Creative Head Children’s & Youth Programming, CBC

3 The Youth Media Alliance

YMA OFFICE Chantal Bowen Executive Director

Sylvie Lamy and Lyne Côté Special Events Coordinators

GALA TEAM Allana Harkin – Host Jason Spevack & Treck Buccino - Co-hosts Aidan Cosgrave – Event Director Phil McCordic – Live Event Scriptwriter Brigham Phillips & Steve Heathcote – Music Lucie Bowen – Photographer Max the Mutt students – volunteers Angelina Chan - volunteer Rori Caffrey - volunteer

AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE Guillaume Aniorté, Tribal Nova Mark Bishop, marblemedia Sasha Boersma, marblemedia Stéphane Cardin, Canada Media Fund

PRIZE PRESENTERS Ana Golja Matthew Knight Emily Lizano Hillary Lizano Austin MacDonald Jordan Miller Kylie Miller Gage Munroe Chloe Rose AJ Saudin Maxwell Uretsky

4 Message from the Chair

Here we are, 37 years after the founding of the Children’s Broadcast Institute, gathered together to celebrate creative excellence in the ﬁ eld of children’s television. We’ve ceased to be just an Alliance for Children and Television and have transformed ourselves into The Youth Media Alliance, reﬂ ecting the new opportunities that advancing technology has presented to us and to our growing audience, ever hungry for new experiences.

Television, and all the different platforms being developed to reach our children and youth, have a very powerful presence in children’s lives, and as they are developing cognitively, emotionally and socially, they have particular and unique needs as an audience. The time spent in front of their screens and repeated exposure to the content of programs rivals the time spent at school and at play as an inﬂ uence in their lives. As professionals, as a society, we need to be concerned with the quality and the content of the programs we present to our children.

Our new name, The Youth Media Alliance, reﬂ ects a renewed commitment to our mandate of encouraging excellence in all our endeavors to entertain and stimulate our young audiences.

As a collection of professionals we have created the exciting and diverse ﬁ eld of programs that are being honoured here tonight and we celebrate the excellence and great variety of the our imaginations. I’d like to express my warmest congratulations to the teams that created tonight’s nominated programs.

I hope you all win.

Peter Moss

5 Message from the Executive Director

Celebrating Excellence in Canadian Television

I grew up watching the very best in French television: Bobino, La boite à surprises, to name but a few. They are among my greatest childhood memories.

Later, my kids had so much to choose from: The Elephant Show, Franklin, Popular Mechanics, etc. Diversity made up their television experience. As a parent, I was happy their life was so culturally rich and stimulated by high quality.

Today, television has major competition. But the small screen is still part of children’s lives, no matter how technically it differs or how many electronic devices kids have access to. Quality and originality have always been our goal and that’s what Youth Media Alliance is still striving for with the 2011 Awards of Excellence.

The Outstanding Achievement Award is intended for people who have stood out in their ﬁ eld and we are very proud to be honouring Bonita Siegel, who has enjoyed an exceptional career in Canadian children’s television.

YMA is always keen on encouraging rising talent to pursue a career in children’s programming in Canada. That’s why we are delighted to be presenting the Emerging Talent Award to Stephanie Betts, who ﬁ ts that proﬁ le exactly.

A Special Award goes to Degrassi and its producers Linda Schuyler and Stephen Stohn for the numerous Canadian lives it touched over the past three decades. Congratulations to Epitome Pictures and their fabulous team of creators, performers and executives!

So with the help of our members, the support of our partners and the dedication of the Board of Directors, we will continue to enthusiastically pursue excellence in the production of screen-based media for our young Canadians.

Congratulations to all the nominees and best wishes to all attending the 2011 Awards of Excellence Gala.

Chantal Bowen Executive Director

6 YMA’s Statement of Quality

The YMA statement of quality provided the foundation for the Children’s Television Charter, which is currently being ratiﬁ ed by governments and broadcasters around the world.

Quality television is television deemed excellent in both form and content, geared to the needs and expectations of its target viewers while meeting recognized industry standards.

The content of programs should be relevant and entertaining, stimulate the intellect and the imagination, and foster openness toward others. It should also be an accurate reﬂ ection of the world in which children grow up, respecting their dignity and promoting learning.

As a Canadian agency, Youth Media Alliance strives to promote Canadian content in children’s programming. Although young Canadians should deﬁ nitely be exposed to international programs that testify to the rich diversity of our world, they should also have access to quality productions that portray Canada, its provinces, regions and communities, as well as its institutions, heritage and culture.

Quality programming for children... • is designed and produced to meet the needs and expectations of the children for whom it is intended, and deals with reality from a child’s perspective; • allows children to be not just passive spectators, but active participants, even protagonists, and to play a central role; • consciously stimulates children’s intellect, curiosity and creativity and enables them to experience emotions furthering their development; • respects children’s intelligence, their critical capacity and their ability to think, by avoiding oversimpliﬁ cation, stereotypes and propaganda; and • takes into account their development needs, different age groups and cultural backgrounds, based on the ﬁ ndings of relevant studies.

Programming providing a window on the world... • accurately portrays reality while stimulating the imagination—the real and the imaginary are the two worlds in which children grow up; and • allows children to explore the world beyond their immediate experience—their family, friends, school, street, city, society, world, and universe.

Children are entitled to productions that... • have access to the same technical and ﬁ nancial resources as productions produced for mainstream audiences, in accordance with recognized standards; and • are aimed at the least well-represented groups, while serving the interests of various age groups.

7 Members of the Jury

Mathieu Baer Versatility is a key asset in this profession: one has to display adaptability to the full range of situations and media. Which is why non-specialization is a strength that Mathieu Baer has been leveraging for nearly 20 years now. Whether reporting from Gaza or exploring the world of animals in urban neighbourhoods here at home, wearing multiple hats (director, concept developer or producer), he views every project as an opportunity to excel. Having got his start as a news editor for Télévision de Radio-Canada and RDI, Baer has been a producer and director for some ﬁ fteen years. His credits as producer include the series Zooville for CBC/ Radio-Canada, Les Grandes Entrevues for ARTV and Le Goût de Louis for Canal Vie.

Jeanette Betancourt Dr. Jeanette Betancourt is the Senior Vice President for Outreach and Educational Practices at Sesame Workshop. Prior to joining Sesame Workshop, Dr. Betancourt was the Director for Project Visiones, a bilingual vocational training program for Latino child care professionals at the Institute for Urban and Minority Education, Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Betancourt is a licensed bilingual speech and language pathologist and educational therapist, with a specialty in treating families and children with psychiatric disorders. She has also served on boards and committees that service children and families, including Leake and Watts Services, Inc., New York City Association for Children and Families, United Way of New York and many more. She is a Board of Trustee for Our World Neighborhood Charter School and served as Chairperson for the School Leadership Team at P.S. 84 for three years. Dr. Betancourt received her BA from Herbert H. Lehman College, City University of New York, an MA in Speech and Language Pathology from Hofstra University, an MS in Bilingual Reading/ Special Education from St. John’s University, and an Ed.D. in Special Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Rita Carbone-Fleury Rita Carbone Fleury is part of the Business Development & Content team at Ameba, a direct to consumer content delivery service which allows parents to pick and purchase programming on line for their kids. Ameba is now available to over one million households in the United States thru the Roku Set-top Box. Rita is actively looking for content partners who want to make their programming available directly to consumers. When she is not sourcing content for Ameba, Rita is an Independent Content Strategist. Rita sources and builds opportunities for content creators and rights holders to exploit their intellectual property. Her experience includes: creation and implementation of multi-platform content sales & marketing strategies; forecasting future content trends; and business development for traditional and new platform monetization. Rita’s platform agnostic approach to content, has given her the opportunity to work with the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund, where she was co-editor of the Bell Fund Bliki – “How to Make Money with Multi-Platform Digital Media.

8 Members of the Jury

Carla Engelbrecht Fisher Carla Engelbrecht Fisher is a game designer with a research obsession. She is the founder of No Crusts Interactive, a children’s game design consulting ﬁ rm that emphasizes incorporating child developmental research and play testing into the game design paradigm. She is the lead designer for the Sesame Street Nintendo Wii and DS video games, released in October 2010, as well as two unannounced children’s gaming projects scheduled for release in 2011. Through the course of her career, she has consulted and produced interactive materials for a wide variety of commercial and educational products, including Tickle Tap Apps, HighlightsKids. com, and PBSKids.org. She speaks internationally about developing children’s games and is also a doctoral candidate at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she studies technology and its relationship with human cognition and development, particularly as it applies to children and games. Carla holds a master’s degree in media studies from the New School University and has, on occasion, been known to twist balloon animals and hats.

Amy Friedman Amy Friedman is the founder and president of Redhead Consulting, a brand strategy and content development company in all media. Amy started her career in Nickelodeon’s early branding group as a writer/director/producer. Over 23 years at Nickelodeon, Amy launched The Big Help, Nick’s multi-year, multi-platform global campaign to activate kids in their communities. She led various pro-social campaigns on health and wellness, the environment, self-esteem and education. In 1994, Amy launched Nickelodeon’s Creative Lab, Nick’s award-winning experimental short form department, serving as Executive Producer. In 1998, she served as Creative Director and Head of Programming for Noggin, Nickelodeon’s non-commercial educational channel for pre-schoolers (now Nick Junior). And in 2001, she launched The N, now Teen Nick, Nickelodeon’s teen destination, and proud American home of Degrassi:The Next Generation.

Suzanne Hénaut Suzanne Hénaut has been active in the ﬁ lm and television business since 1974. She started her producing career with feature ﬁ lms and became an associate of Vision 4 inc. in 1985. From 1995 to 1999, she turned to children’s programming at TFO-TVOntario in Toronto where she oversaw development and production of projects in all formats from animation and puppets to live action and documentary. At the end of 1999, she returned to Montreal to be creative producer for Cinar’s animation and puppet series Caillou for PBS. She has been an active member of the boards as President of both WIFT- Montreal (FCTNM) and the Cinémathèque Québécoise. She came to Radio-Canada in 2002 and is presently Creative Head for Youth and Family programming and Feature Documentaries.

9 Members of the Jury

Patricia Lavoie Patricia Lavoie has been writing and producing ﬁ lm and television for many years including seventeen seasons with Sesame Street (CBC) in Canada where she honed her pre-school expertise. She developed the original concept for and produced the ﬁ rst Heritage Minutes, a multi-million dollar television and cinema project based on anecdotes of Canadian history, the award-winning Wimzie’s House (112 x 30 min) seen on CBC, Radio-Canada and the prestigious Ready-to-Learn block of PBS. Her production credits also include the mixed media Caillou series (PBS), the Gémeaux-nominated Moi/Me Too (Radio-Canada & CBC), 52 episodes of Lassie (YTV, Animal Planet), 46 x 1 hour episodes of Emily of New Moon (CBC), the tween science series SciSquad (TVO, Discovery Channel USA), and Mental Block (YTV), as well as several feature-length international coproductions with Australia, New Zealand, France, Japan and the USA. Her pre-school mixed media series, Cotoons, co-produced with France, won the Grand Prize of Distinction from the Alliance for Children and Television. Ms. Lavoie’s online productions include Mama Mirabelle’s Home Movies for PBS and National Geographic (winner of a Parents’ Choice Award), Hans Hans the Biking Viking for CBC and SRC as well as Wumpa’s World for PBS and Corus’ Treehouse. Ms. Lavoie recently served as interim Director of Yoopa, a multiplatform brand comprised of a preschool television channel, an online community for children and parents and a magazine for parents.

Monic Lessard Monic Lessard has a Bachelor of Journalism from Quebec City’s Université Laval. For a number of years, she has worked as a TV reporter, host, producer and correspondent for CBC/Radio- Canada in Quebec’s Outaouais region. She has taught TV reporting at Université de Dakar in Senegal. Moreover, her previous positions include Vice-President of Canal Famille and Director of Programming for MétéoMédia. Ms. Lessard currently teaches children’s & youth television courses at INIS (Institut national de l’image et du son), in addition to providing communications consulting services.

Daniel Massé Daniel Massé is General Manager and Chief Media Contaminator for the youth market agency Virus1334. Daniel has degrees in accounting sciences, administration and marketing. In 2003, he began playing a key role in the advertising world as a media strategist. Working with Canada’s largest ad agencies, he honed his expertise with such clients as L’Oréal Paris, Maybelline NY, Suzuki and TELUS. At Virus1334 since 2008, he has been putting all his energy into analyzing and understanding the digital generation. Daniel has a true passion for consumer psychology and communications, and he’s always on the lookout for the latest innovation that will reach out to and engage his clients’ target markets. He believes the media strategy is an integral part of the creative strategy – it must allow for delivery of the message but, even more so, it must provide an interactive experience for the end consumer. The media strategy is what keeps the conversation going.

10 Members of the Jury

Cathy Moss Cathy started her career in TV writing episodes of “KidZone”, Knowledge Network’s popular youth series. She then went on to write and/or story edit for a long list of children’s shows including “Toopy and Binoo,” “Franklin” “My Friend Rabbit”, “Sesame Park”, “Erky Perky, “The Hoobs”, “Turbo Dogs” “What About Mimi?” “Harry and his Bucket Full of Dinosaurs” and “Zigby the Zebra” among others. She was story editor and senior writer on W Network’s “You Me and the Kids”, for four years. She is co-creator of the children’s series Franny’s Feet now being shown in 28 countries and creator of the children’s series “Doggy Day School” with TVO and Brazil’s TV Cultura. She is currently story editing the second season of “Doggy Day School”.

Elizabeth Muskala Elizabeth Muskala is the Director of Festivals and Events for TIFF. She programmes at the Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children and Youth as well overseeing the overall administration of the festival. She also programmes Sprockets Family Zone at the Toronto International Film Festival®. In addition to her programming duties, she manages external bookings and events for partner organizations, festivals and industry using TIFF Bell Lightbox. Muskala has been with the organization since 1996 and over the past decade has contributed to the organization in a number of capacities, including the Managing Editor of Publications, the Gala and Special Presentations Coordinator and most recently the Director of Programme Administration. She has supervised the administrative details and programmed Special Presentations for Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children since 2002 and has helped to curate and build the proﬁ le of the Special Presentations programme at the Toronto International Film Festival®. She has also programmed Future Frames and coordinated Young People’s Juries for Sprockets. Prior to joining TIFF, Elizabeth Muskala worked for a Toronto-based communications and investor relations marketing ﬁ rm.

Brenda Nietupski Brenda Nietupski is President of Little Tugboat Productions. Co-founded with partner, Josh Selig, Little Tugboat is a boutique Canadian Production company dedicated to creating quality children’s programming for a global marketplace. Nietupski has an extensive broadcast history as Director of Programming for Canada’s Treehouse TV, and Discovery Kids. Brenda was responsible for building both networks’ roster of quality children’s programming through acquisitions and triggering Canadian production and international co-production. Working in the industry for 20 years, Brenda brings a wealth of experience and knowledge about the Canadian broadcast landscape and children’s brands. A graduate of the University of Toronto in Cinema Studies and English as well as a Motion Picture student at Ryerson University, Brenda has cultivated her craft from a variety of avenues. Prior to her role at Corus, Nietupski worked as an advertising producer and in various positions in the production and post-production industry. She has most recently written and directed for Little Airplane Productions’ “Small Potatoes”. Brenda is the proud mom of two fabulous kids; Zack and Astrid. Her creativity and perseverance also helped her train and cross the ﬁ nish line, at the Athens Marathon in 2007.

11 Members of the Jury

Marcy Page Marcy Page has pursued an interest in animation for well over 30 years. Prior to joining the National Film Board of Canada in 1990, her personal fi lm Paradisia garnered 15 festival awards internationally. She animated for over a dozen companies and taught animation courses at San Francisco State University and the California College of Arts & Crafts. As a NFB producer, she has remained committed in the over eighty projects on which she has worked, to seeking out eclectic and unusual productions that push the envelope of the medium. She has also helped to shape dozens of acclaimed narrative and non-narrative fi lms that together have garnered over 250 international awards for the NFB and its celebrated animation program including such Oscar®-nominated fi lms as Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski’s Madame Tutli-Putli and Torill Kove’s My Grandmother Ironed the King’s Shirts as well as Kove’s Oscar®- winning The Danish Poet and Chris Landreth’s Oscar®-winning Ryan.

Don Perro Don Perro is an animation veteran with over 25 years of experience in the ﬁ eld. A 1984 honours graduate from Emily Carr University of Art & Design, Don has worked as an animation director, storyboard artist, character designer and animator. He has been teaching and developing animation curriculum since 1990 and has served as a consultant for universities in Mexico, China and Malaysia. He developed the Commercial Animation program at Capilano University in North Vancouver, BC and has been the head of the department since its inception in 1994. Don has served on juries and selection committees in the past, including ACTRA’s Gemini Awards and the FICCI BAF Awards (Mumbai). He is currently working to develop a production pipeline for a TV series using advanced animation software.

Terry Rotseart Terry Rotsaert is presently the Head of Production at Cookie Jar Entertainment and oversees production working closely with Broadcasters, Co-Producers and Service Studios. He is currently the supervising producer on Mudpit, Johnny Test 5 and Debra! After graduating from the Classical Animation program at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario he started his career as an artist in animation at Nelvana and held the positions of Layout Artist/Supervisor and Assistant Director before transitioning from the artistic side of production to the management of production. He worked with Story City as a service provider for Cookie Jar for many years before joining their team in 2008. With over 19 years of experience in animation industry he is well versed in traditional 2d, digital 2d and CGI productions.

12 Members of the Jury

Carla Seal-Wanner Carla Seal-Wanner’s career demonstrates a long-held commitment to quality children’s media, the importance of giving young media consumers the tools to create empowering user- generated content, and developing media content that can improve children’s lives. Along with her unqualifi ed expertise in interactive learning, child development and educational technology, Dr. Seal-Wanner’s knowledge of the learning style and gender predispositions that shape cognitive, socio-emotional, and creative development provide a unique perspective on how to design new media experiences for learners of all ages. As Director of The Graduate Program in Instructional Technology and Media, at Columbia University form 1985-1995, she pioneered how to develop effective and appealing computer-mediated learning. She is currently the Director of Education for Flickerlab, an educational transmedia production studio (www.fl ickerlab.com); and the Executive Director of Climate Cartoons (www.climatecartoons. org) a 501c3 organization founded to facilitate the independent creation of animated eco- literacy fi lms by students. She has a masters and a doctorate in Human Development from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education.

Bonita Siegel Bonita Siegel is an experienced Executive Producer and Broadcaster. As an executive producer at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Bonita worked on prime time drama series and movies for television. In her role as Director, Original Productions, Corus Television, Bonita developed, commissioned and supervised production on over 1400 hours of children’s programming for all age groups and genres including animation, live action, comedy, sitcom, reality shows, preschool animation, puppets, and documentary. Bonita also worked on extensions for web content, vod, svod and mobile. Programs under Bonita’s guidance received world wide acceptance and won many awards including an International Emmy, Gemini Awards, a Pucinella Award. Bonita presently works as a Creative Producer on various projects including live action and animation for children.

Francois Trudel François Trudel has worked in the animation industry for over 15 years. Before joining Groupe PVP in summer 2004, he held the position of studio manager, production manager and development analyst with CinéGroupe Corporation. He has 16 series, three television specials and one feature ﬁ lm to his credit, in addition to founding a digital animation studio in HCMC, Vietnam. As a partner and producer with PVP, François currently develops and produces 2D and 3D animation projects for major Canadian broadcasters. His most recent PVP productions include Stardust, Three Delivery and Jack.

13 Members of the Jury

Gino Vincelli After his graduation from the ﬁ lm and television program at the NAD Centre in 1996, Gino Vincelli worked on different 3D television series such as: Hanna-Barbera’s The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest at Buzz Image Group in Montreal; and a 3D series for kids in the Netherlands. When he headed back to Montreal, Softimage hired him: for seven years, Gino worked in the company’s 3D education and training department. As ATC Manager and Senior Instructor for Softimage, Gino was in charge of certifying instructors to provide Softimage software training at authorized training centres worldwide, as well as evaluating and approving new centres. He was also responsible for Softimage’s Tutorial Guide and its database content. Gino has delivered training for such organizations as EA, Ubisoft, Animal Logic, and Sega. He has been a guest speaker at conferences in Montreal and abroad. In September 2006, Gino joined the NAD Centre as a full-time certiﬁ ed Softimage instructor. He currently teaches character animation and virtual character acting & direction as part of the UQAC/NAD 3D Animation and Digital Design B.A. program.

Suzanne Wilson Suzanne began her career with a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Radio and Television Arts from Ryerson University. Since then, she has worked for Playback magazine, BBC Worldwide, Portfolio Entertainment, The itsy bitsy Entertainment Company, Lambur & Associates, Lenz Entertainment and the Chocolate Liberation Front in many aspects of the production and marketing of children’s entertainment and has been involved with properties including the Teletubbies, It’s itsy bitsy Time!, Miffy, Domo-Kun and many others. During this time, Wilson also earned her MBA from York University’s Schulich School of Business. Suzanne was also involved in the development and launch, in September 2009, of the Centennial College Children’s Entertainment: Writing, Production and Management post-graduate certiﬁ cate and continues to coordinate the program and teach. She is also Senior Administrator of Business Affairs at Breakthrough Entertainment and Mom to a very busy six year old.

14 2011 Awards of Excellence Nominees All Genres Categories

Sponsored by ALL GENRES 3–5 YEARS Apartment 11 Nominees: The Ocean Room - Sinking Ship Entertainment (TVO) This and That Shop - TVO (TVO)

Sponsored by ALL GENRES 6–8 YEARS Family Channel Nominees: A World of Wonders - Genuine Pictures Inc. (TVO & Saskatchewan Communications Network) Dino Dan - Sinking Ship Entertainment (TVO) Artzooka! - CCI Entertainment Ltd. (CBC)

Sponsored by ALL GENRES 9–12 YEARS Epitome Pictures Nominees: Vacation with Derek - Shaftesbury Films Inc. (Family Channel) How To Be Indie - Sudden Storm Entertainment & Heroic Film Company (YTV) Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars - 9 Story Entertainment (The Movie Network) Baxter - Shaftesbury Films Inc. (Family Channel) Survive This Season II - 9 Story Entertainment (YTV) The Adrenaline Project – marblemedia (YTV) Connor Undercover - Shaftesbury Films Inc. & Heroic Film Company (Family Channel) That’s So Weird! Season II - DHX Media Ltd. (YTV)

Sponsored by INTERSTITIAL ALL AGES Sinking Ship Entertainment Nominees: TVO Kids – The Space – TVO (TVO) Gisèle’s Big Backyard – TVO (TVO) Kids’ Canada – CBC (CBC)

15 Special Anniversary Outstanding Achievement Award

30 Years of Degrassi

Over three decades ago, a Toronto schoolteacher named Linda Schuyler noticed a serious lack of educational materials that could guide her students through the awkward periods of adolescence. Taking matters into her own hands, Linda started a production company and acquired the rights to the book Ida Makes a Movie. Partnering with Kit Hood, they adapted this story into what became the fi rst of 26 episodes of the series, The Kids of Degrassi Street. The show received numerous awards including a Prix Jeunesse, an International Emmy and a Gemini Award. The show then metamorphosed into Degrassi Junior High and was picked up in the US by PBS fl agship station WGBH. After three successful seasons and countless accolades, the series evolved yet again and now became Degrassi High. After two seasons, Degrassi High fi nished its run with the 2 hour MOW “School’s Out” pulling an impressive 2.3 million viewers. Following this, six documentaries entitled Degrassi Talks were produced with Health and Welfare Canada that discussed such familiar Degrassi topics as sex, alcohol, abuse, depression, drugs and sexuality.

In 2001, CTV announced the premiere of Degrassi: The Next Generation, a new half-hour series that resurrected the iconic school. From that came countless awards, critical and view acclaim and a distribution deal that licensed the series in over 150 countries. The ensemble cast visited malls across North America and attracted thousands of screaming fans. In 2005, New York Times Magazine declared Degrassi: The Next Generation “tha best teen TV N da WRLD!” In Season 10, “The Next Generation” was dropped from the title, and the series was re-branded as simply Degrassi. The broadcast format was shifted, and the order came down that a record 44 episodes would be released in one season. Now celebrating its 30th year, the series is underway on an additional 45 episodes for its eleventh season which will take the Degrassi franchise to an astounding 380 episodes.

16 2011 Awards of Excellence Nominees Animation Categories

Sponsored by ANIMATION 3–5 YEARS TVO Nominees: Stella and Sam - Radical Sheep Productions Inc. (Playhouse Disney Canada) Guess with Jess - Nelvana & Classic Entertainment (Treehouse TV) The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! - Portfolio Entertainment & Collingwood O’Hare Prod. (Treehouse) Max & Ruby Season IV - 9 Story Entertainment (Treehouse) Ludovic - Cité Amérique (CBC & SRC) Toot & Puddle - Mercury Filmworks (Treehouse) dirtgirlworld - DHX Media Ltd. & mememe productions Inc. (CBC)

Sponsored by ANIMATION 6–8 YEARS 9 Story Entertainment Nominees: Babar and the Adventures of Badou – Nelvana (YTV) Mixed Nutz - Big Bad Boo Studios Inc. (Shaw TV) Skatoony – marblemedia (TELETOON)

Sponsored by ANIMATION 9–14 YEARS DHX Media Nominees: Total Drama World Tour - Fresh TV Inc. (TELETOON) League of Super Evil - Nerd Corps Entertainment (YTV & VRAK.TV) Carl Squared - Portfolio Entertainment Inc. (TELETOON) Bolts & Blip - ToonBox Entertainment (TELETOON)

17 Special Jury Award – Television