CNMAs won’t rest on laurels: Froman

With a record crowd of approximately 550 registered attendees at this year’s Canadian New Media Awards, you’d think the maxim ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ would apply. This is new media, however: striving to remain on the cutting edge is imperative, and Canada’s industry awards are no exception. The CNMAs are all about showcasing Canadian innovation. To do that, new categories will be added and less popular ones might be scaled back, in keeping with trends in the industry, says CNMA founder and executive producer Adam Froman. For instance, "it used to be just individuals and companies, and then we introduced product categories last year," he says. This year, Froman, who is also president of Delvinia Interactive Inc., and his team tinkered with the categories even further to suit the submissions from the 200 to 250 applicants. "That’s an area I want to keep on evolving in the awards next year," he says. "I think we’re going to step it up." Froman also formulated a plan to put as much of the attention on the finalists themselves this year, and arranged activities and opportunities to make them feel pampered. It’s a thank-you, he says, for supporting the event with their submissions since its inception six years ago. "From the minute they were announced they received a gift, and then we had someone interfacing with them the whole way along," he says. The finalists also attended a barbeque at the Canadian Film Centre in their honour as well as a lunch meeting with Heritage minister Bev Oda at the Royal Bank of Canada’s Toronto headquarters. With lean years on the new media event circuit a not-so-distant memory, Froman says it’s heartening to see interest returning in attending industry events. The 2006 turnout at the actual awards ceremony – held at Toronto’s CARLU on May 29 – was an improvement of more than 100 attendees on last year’s event. Froman says he first noticed an uptick in event attendance last fall, with a Canadian Marketing Association event dedicated to digital media that was particularly well-attended. "That was the first indication that people were back out and spending money on coming out to events," he says. Since then, events held earlier this year – such as the nascent iSummit and Mesh conferences – have sold out. "We’re starting to see companies actually participate in events and initiatives…again. It’s nice to see, actually," Froman says. 2006 CNMA WINNERS Excellence in Children’s – Didi & Ditto: The Wolf King, Kutoka Interactive Excellence in Cross-Platform – Bite TV, Bite TV Excellence in Culture, Lifestyle Arts – Canadian Tapestry, ecentricarts Inc. Excellence in Gaming – Jade Empire, BioWare Corp. Excellence in Learning – Sort It Out!, ACCESS The Education Station Excellence in News, Information – CBC.ca Olympic website, CBC.ca Most Promising New Company of the Year – Rocketfuel Productions Lifetime Achievement – John Demco, Webnames.ca Inc. Company of the Year – QuickPlay Media Educator of the Year – Daniel Oulette, DJO Studios Producer of the Year – Adrian Crook, Relic Entertainment Graduate of the Year – Robert Scales, Raincity Studios Designer of the Year – Nate Smith, The Vacuum Design Programmer of the Year – James Eberhardt, marblemedia Special Recognition Award – Andra Sheffer, Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund

CNMAs won’t rest on laurels: Froman

Broadcast | June 12, 2006

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