CNMA newbies hopeful for a win, but glad to be nominated

Generational change most likely comes faster in interactive media than it does in any other industry. It's not surprising then that with every iteration of the annual Canadian New Media Awards - now on their seventh edition - first-time nominees cross their fingers and hope for a win, knowing that it's just the kind of push that can transform today's start-up into tomorrow's superstar.Vikas Gupta, president of Toronto-based TransGaming Inc., is all the more excited about his firm's nomination in the Excellence in Gaming category because TransGaming itself doesn't actually develop or publish games."It's amazing, because it demonstrates you don't have to be a company that's developing games to be recognized for significant contributions to the gaming industry," he says.With a corporate history dating back to 2001, a listing on the TSX Venture Exchange, corporate headquarters in Toronto and an R&D centre in Ottawa, TransGaming is one of the larger and more well-established newcomers to the awards.But it took a few years for the company to emerge from what Gupta calls "R&D mode" and into the world of commercial software development with Cedega, a subscription service which allows game titles created for the PC to be played on Linux machines, in mid-2004.Since then, TransGaming has added Cider, a tool allowing game developers to port PC titles to Apple Inc.'s Mac OS environment, as well as a partnership to bring Mac titles to Turner Broadcasting System Inc.'s GameTap games-on-demand service. And, Gupta adds, Apple's move into mobile holds even more future promise for the company."My hope is that based on all the information and the announcements we have coming out with this year, next year or the year after we're up for Company of the Year," he says.Meanwhile, Vancouver Web design firm Subject Matter is nominated in the Excellence in News, Information category for its work on the website for the National Film Board's Filmmaker-in-Residence program - an incredible start for a firm less than a year old.In fact, Subject Matter is so new, it hasn't even posted a fully functional website yet - just an email address and a background image."You know how it always is - you make your own site last," says Loc Dao, one of the firm's founding principals. "You put all the energy into the client work. These days, the last few projects you did are much more important than your site."Dao and the other principals in the firm - Rob McLaughlin, Alicia Smith and Sean Embury - met through CBC's Radio 3, where they'd worked on various online properties starting in the early 2000s. However, when the public broadcaster changed direction to focus on new opportunities such as satellite radio, Smith and Dao bailed to go into business for themselves. Embury and McLaughlin, meanwhile, remain on staff at the public broadcaster.And while the foursome's work with Radio 3 has garnered many awards over the past half-decade - including wins at the Webby Awards, the Radio-Television News Directors Association of Canada Awards and the International Radio Festival of New York - their first CNMA nomination evokes a thrill nonetheless."It's not new for us personally , but as Subject Matter, it's...huge, because we're starting out as something different. We're obviously very excited to be recognized," says Dao.Lifecapture Interactive, a multi-service digital media agency based in Toronto, first tasted success last year with Crashaddicts.com, a site based on Outdoor Life Network's original TV series of the same name, which is nominated for the Excellence in Culture, Lifestyle Arts award. The site also captured some Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund production funding last summer. Since then, says co-founder, president and CEO Geoff Whitlock, Lifecapture has parlayed that success into other customer engagements such as the United Church of Canada's Wonder Café social networking site, a Web redesign for TV producer Summerhill Entertainment, and the online presence of Niagara-on-the-Lake ON's Shaw Festival.To date, Lifecapture has found more than enough work in Canada to keep its staff busy and keep the company growing at a respectable rate. "We work in Toronto, we've got a few clients in Vancouver, we've got a couple on the East Coast, so we're starting to pick up quite a profile across the country," says Whitlock.However, he adds, that could change. "We see a lot of opportunity outside of Canada, but I don't think we have the muscle at our stage to really chase it." In either case, a CNMA win will undoubtedly raise Lifecapture's prominence and bring it new potential business. However, in the short term Whitlock and his crew are planning to enjoy themselves - and their nomination - with a VIP table at the awards ceremony, to be held at Toronto's CARLU on May 28."The nomination win, in and of itself, is like a reward for us, just because it's nice to see that we're able to play on the block with some really great people, and some really great talent," he says.Tickets to the awards ceremony are still available at http://www.cnma.ca/.

CNMA newbies hopeful for a win, but glad to be nominated

Broadcast | May 24, 2007

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