Tag: awards

Global’s Woman of Vision has now profiled more than 230 Edmonton-area women doing great things

The 19th annual Global’s Woman of Vision luncheon was held at the Shaw Conference Centre last Friday. The event “celebrates the outstanding accomplishments of Edmonton-area women” and has now recognized over 230 women. I was fortunate enough to attend on a complementary media ticket.

“The consistently sold-out annual awards luncheon is the highlight of the Woman of Vision program, as it pays tribute to the inspirational women featured over the last year. Gold Sponsors give female university students $1,000 bursaries to help them realize their visions and 50 young women receive sponsored tickets to inspire them to consider where their visions may lead them. This emotional, spirit-lifting event is enhanced by words of wisdom from the women of vision themselves.”

The Woman of Vision feature airs on the first Monday of every month on Global Edmonton, produced and hosted by Lesley MacDonald. It was launched on ITV News in 1995, and has won two national broadcasting awards. It’s impressive that the program is still going strong!

Woman of Vision Luncheon

The twelve women recognized this year were:

You can read much more about each of them in the March 2014 issue of Avenue Edmonton magazine, and you can see some of the videos here.

I thought the format of the event was interesting. Each recipient was welcomed on stage to both receive her award, but also to answer a question posed by Lesley. The questions and answers were pre-prepared, but they still offered some additional information on each woman that I really appreciated. It was great to hear the recipients talk about their vision in their own words too.

I was extremely happy to see Kendall and Justine recognized as I think they are doing amazing things with Poppy Barley. The best is absolutely yet to come for their growing company! It was great to see a couple of representatives from our vibrant food community too, with Giselle and Amy. Duchess Bake Shop needs no introduction if you’re in Edmonton, and perhaps not even if you’re elsewhere in the country! I’m a big fan of Amy’s, not only because she still remembers my order at Chicken For Lunch, but because she truly does live her vision of “just be yourself”. She had everyone in the audience laughing!

Woman of Vision Luncheon

In addition to the women of vision, eight young women received bursaries.

“Sponsorships for the Global Woman of Vision Awards Luncheon include the creation of bursaries and awards to assist young women in furthering their education so they can pursue their own visions.”

Sponsors Global, Canadian Western Bank, Stantec, Enbridge, Afinity Life Sciences, Sterling Homes, Groot DermaSurgery, and MacEwan University all provided a bursary. The 2014 bursary recipients were:

  • Lindsay Rankin, Radio & Television Broadcasting, NAIT
  • Brishti Kayastha, Bachelor of Commerce, MacEwan University
  • Miranda Stahn, WISEST, University of Alberta
  • Angelica Prieto, Civil Engineering, University of Alberta
  • Ensaf Almomani, Physiology, University of Alberta
  • Sonic Budac, Architectural Technology, NAIT
  • Stephanie Lim, Medicine, University of Alberta
  • Rowan Sallstrom, Anthropology, MacEwan University

Watch for those women to continue doing interesting and impactful things in the years ahead!

If you’d like to nominate a Woman of Vision from the Edmonton area, you can do so online. Nominations are reviewed every two months by the Global Woman of Vision Advisory Board. You can see more photos from the event here, courtesy of That Just Happened.

Thanks again to Lesley and her team for the opportunity to attend!

Avenue Edmonton’s Top 40 Under 40 for 2013

With the unveiling tonight of Avenue Edmonton’s fifth annual Top 40 Under 40, there have now been 200 amazing, young Edmontonians recognized. The latest group was honored this evening at the Royal Alberta Museum.

Every year, Avenue magazine recognizes Capital Region’s most exceptional young community leaders. The Top 40 Under 40 list honours individuals under the age of 40 who are excelling in their careers, giving back to the community and raising the profile of Edmonton.

Both Minister of Culture Heather Klimchuk and Mayor Don Iveson (who was recognized in 2009) brought greetings to the event. “This is a city that loves to defy expectations,” the mayor said. “There are many leaders in this room. There might even be a mayor among you!”

Here’s the Top 40 for 2013 and where you can find them online (in alphabetical order):

Congratulations to all the winners! There are some names there that have me saying “finally” and others who I’m happy to be introduced to. I look forward to learning more about this new group of Top 40 alumni.

For those of you who care about such things, the average of this year’s list is 34.3 and there are 24 males and 16 females.

The cover of the new issue features Aaryn Flynn. You can read more about all of the individuals above at Avenue Edmonton. There’s lots more to see on Twitter using the #top40yeg hashtag too.

Want to see who made the list in past years? Check out my posts from 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012.

Recap: 2013 Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts

MCA 2013The 26th annual Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts took place on Monday night at the Winspear Centre. Talented artists being recognized for their efforts, highly entertaining performances in a variety of genres, and hundreds of local supporters of the arts – what’s not to love? I look forward to the event every year!

This year’s event supported Kids Up Front Edmonton, a very worthy organization which works to provide kids with the chance to experience arts, sports, and entertainment events. Since it was formed in 2003, Kids Up Front has donated 237,174 tickets valued at $5.8 million to local kids and families.

Here’s an excerpt of Mayor Mandel’s message in the program:

Arts and culture form the very heart and spirit of our city. The creativity of our vibrant arts community is a fitting complement to the innovative spirit of our business community. The Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts celebrates the best in local talent and each year I leave this evening of awards and performances feeling entertained, inspired and immensely grateful for the diverse, rich arts community that makes Edmonton such a great place to call home.

The full list of nominees is available at the PACE website. Here are the winners:

Mayor’s Award for Sustained Support of the Arts
City Lumber, Robert Rosen, nominated by Edmonton Symphony Orchestra

John Poole Award for Promotion of the Arts
Fish Griwkowsky, nominated by Elizabeth Withey

Mayor’s Award for Innovative Support of the Arts by a Business
Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation (RAHF), nominated by Susan Pointe

Robert Koetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize
I see my love more clearly from a distance by Nora Gould, Brick Books

CN Youth Artist Award
Timothy Dowler-Coltman, nominated by Natalie Witte

Northlands Award for an Emerging Artist
Omar Mouallem, nominated by Lisa Baroldi

DIALOG Award for Excellence in Artistic Direction
Trevor Schmidt, Northern Light Theatre, nominated by Ellen Chorley

TELUS Courage to Innovate Award
Shawn Pinchbeck, nominated by Gene Kosowan

Syncrude Award for Excellence in Arts Management
Tom McFall, nominated by James Lavoie

ATCO Gas Lifetime Achievement Award
John Mahon, nominated by Edmonton Community Foundation

ATB Financial Ambassador of the Arts Award
Corb Lund, nominated by Todd Crawshaw

John Mahon joined the Edmonton Arts Council (EAC) in 1996 as Grant Director and took over as Executive Director in 1998. He excels at both the clarinet and the political game required to be successful in a position like ED of the EAC. Thanks to his guidance and his positive relationship with the mayor and council, funding for the arts in Edmonton has grown steadily over the years (to $11.5 million in the 2013 budget). John will be moving on from the EAC in June, so I was very happy to see him recognized at the event. Congrats John!

2013 Mayor's Celebration of the Arts

The evening’s performances included:

One of my favorite things about the Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts is the cross-section of talent that is on display. From the high energy Irish dancing that opened the show to Corb Lund’s awesome closing set, there was never a dull moment. I really enjoyed the improv performance. Belinda and Mark got Mayor Mandel on stage and used some information from him to re-enact a day in the life of our mayor. With digs at his chief of staff and Councillor Batty, it was pretty funny. The best part? Peter Brown, who acted the part of the mayor, whimpering every time the arena was mentioned.

2013 Mayor's Celebration of the Arts

Only Mayor Mandel knows for sure if this was his final Celebration of the Arts or not, but just in case I want to highlight that he’s the reason it exists. The event moved to an evening format in 2005 at his request. Prior to that, the event was known as the Mayor’s Luncheon for Arts and Business and attendance was by invitation only. It was a smaller event with awards and speeches, but no performances. Mayor Mandel recognized the opportunity and transformed it into an event with profile. I’m glad he did.

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners! You can read last year’s recap here. See you at the 2014 Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts!

This was my second year on the Steering Committee for the event. While I take absolutely no credit for the incredible evening, I did make some behind-the-scenes contributions. In addition to building the microsite, I digitized the nomination forms and process this year. There are a few wrinkles to iron out, but for the most part I think it worked really well! If you nominated someone and have feedback on how to improve it further, please let me know!

The Yeggies will recognize and celebrate online content creators in Edmonton

the yeggiesToday was a very exciting day for Edmonton’s vibrant social media scene! Adam Rozenhart of The Unknown Studio (among other things) officially announced the Edmonton New Media Awards, a.k.a. “The Yeggies”:

Edmonton has a particularly strong social media community. It’s quite remarkable, and I think pretty unique. I know other Canadian cities have enthusiastic social media users and communities as well, but — and I’ll admit to complete and total bias here — there’s just something different about Edmonton’s community.

You know what’s missing from Edmonton’s winning formula? True, unabashed recognition.

That’s where the new awards come in!

The Edmonton New Media Awards, or the Yeggies, is an annual awards show created to recognize and celebrate outstanding social media content creators in the capital region. It’s an awards show to highlight some of the amazing talent we have here in Edmonton — from people who code websites themselves, to those who write, speak, draw, all on their own time. Yeggies recipients inspire, evoke, inform, educate and entertain us, and they do it because they have a passion for it.

I’m really thrilled that this is really going to happen – there are so many creative people in our city making interesting things online. I am fortunate enough to be on the organizing committee, so I can tell you that coming up with the categories wasn’t easy. I’m sure we’ll hear lots of great feedback on how to improve, but I’m very happy with the award categories we decided upon for the first annual awards:

  • Best in Edmonton
  • Best in Political or Current Affairs
  • Best in Sports
  • Best in Food
  • Best in Arts and Culture
  • Best in Humour
  • Best in Fashion & Style
  • Best Twitter Persona
  • Lifetime Achievement Award

Yes, this means that a sports blog could be up against a sports podcast, for example. Blogs and podcasts are two different animals, but once you go down the path of having separate awards for each service or network you quickly realize it never ends. There is a special category for Twitter, but to me that’s a recognition of the outsized impact Twitter has had on the entire scene here in Edmonton.

Want to nominate someone? You have until the end of January!

Details for the awards show are still being worked out but it is currently slated to take place in the spring. If you’d like to get involved, we’re looking for both volunteers and sponsors.

Finally, I want to thank Adam for driving this forward. I think The Yeggies are going to be a big success, and I just hope I can play a role in helping him realize his vision for the project. Take a few seconds and thank Adam for once again giving meaning to the “Make Something Edmonton” idea.

Avenue Edmonton’s Top 40 Under 40 for 2012

The fourth annual Top 40 Under 40 list was unveiled this evening at MKT.

Every year, Avenue magazine recognizes Capital Region’s most exceptional young business leaders. The Top 40 Under 40 list honours individuals under the age of 40 who are excelling in their careers, giving back to the community and raising the profile of Edmonton.

Here’s the Top 40 for 2012 and where you can find them online (in alphabetical order):

Tonight’s awards ceremony was hosted by Global Edmonton’s Vassey Kapelos and was sponsored by Celebration Homes, MacEwan University, and Century Hospitality. I couldn’t make it tonight, but judging by the #top40yeg hashtag on Twitter, it sounds like it was a great party! The website still is not updated (and like past years was down for a while) but when they get that sorted you should be able to see all the details here. The November issue should be on stands across the city soon.

Congratulations to all the winners!

To learn about even more members of Edmonton’s growing Top 40 community, check out the class of 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Thank You!

I just wanted to take a minute to say thanks!

Vue Weekly’s Best of Edmonton 2012 awards were published the week of September 20:

We asked your thoughts on over 150 categories—Yeah, we know, it was a little much. But we had over 1000 responses and upwards of 15 000 individual vote, so thanks for coming out, Edmonton.

This blog was named “Best Local Blog” and I was also named “Best Local Twitterer”. Needless to say, I was absolutely thrilled when I found out! I am also really happy that What the Truck?! was named “Best Local Pop-up Event”. What’s great about these awards is that Edmontonians decided who won, not a jury or other committee. That makes the recognition even more meaningful.

Best of Edmonton 2012

I want to give props to Sharon, Rev, Kikki, and Brittney who were all recognized alongside me in the Blog & Twitter categories. Check them out! Hopefully in future years we’ll see even broader recognition of the Edmontonians who are doing amazing things for our community through technology and the web.

As always, thanks for reading!

2012 Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts

mca2012The 25th annual Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts took place last night at the Winspear Centre. Being the silver anniversary, Sharon and I just couldn’t miss it! As in years past it was a fun evening of awards and performances, not to mention a great networking opportunity for everyone in attendance. This year the event came very close to selling out, which is great news for the chosen cause for 2012 – the Rock & Roll Society of Edmonton’s Centre for Arts and Music. It was fantastic to see so many people out in support of our amazing arts community here in Edmonton!

Here’s an excerpt of Mayor Mandel’s message in the program:

Arts and culture form the very heart and spirit of our city and for 25 years this event has celebrated the best artistic talents our city has to offer. Every year, some of Edmonton’s most talented artists perform at this event leaving me with renewed appreciation of Edmonton’s immensely talented arts community.

The Mayor seemed to be in a particularly joyful mood last night! His remarks during the show were brief, but he had some fun with MCs Peter Brown and Carrie Doll. At the end of the evening, he even instigated the on-stage dancing, which is something of a tradition for the Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts.

2012 Mayor's Celebration of the Arts

The full list of nominees is available at the PACE website. Here are the winners:

Mayor’s Award for Sustained Support of the Arts
Realtors Association of Edmonton, Jon Hall, nominated by Azimuth Theatre Association

Mayor’s Award for Innovative Support of the Arts by a Business
ATCO Gas & Electric, nominated by Victoria School of the Arts

John Poole Award for Promotion of the Arts
Arts on the Ave, nominated by Theatre Prospero

Robert Koetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize
Freddy’s War by Judy Schultz, Brindle & Glass Publishing Ltd.

CN Youth Artist Award
Candace Chu, nominated by Alberta College Conservatory of Music

Northlands Award for an Emerging Artist
Jason Carter, nominated by Jessica Aube

DIALOG Award for Excellence in Artistic Direction
Marsh Murphy, nominated by Kyle Armstrong

TELUS Courage to Innovate Award
iDANCE Edmonton, nominated by Alison Neuman

ATCO Gas Award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement
Brian Webb, nominated by bottom line productions inc.

The evening’s performances, sponsored by Syncrude, included:

I’m a big Colleen Brown fan, so I really enjoyed her set. I thought Brett Kissel did a fantastic job as the show opener! He’s obviously a talented artist but was funny and personable on stage too. He got the audience clapping along which really set the tone for the show. I also really liked the guys from Caution: May Contain Nuts. They did an Arnold Schwarzenegger segment which was pretty funny. I think lots of people in the audience enjoyed seeing Tommy Banks perform too. Christian Hansen did a wonderful job closing the show – he was very high energy!

2012 Mayor's Celebration of the Arts

Some of the kids from the Rock & Roll Society also performed a song that they themselves composed. The Centre for Arts & Music is a program that helps students learn how to write lyrics, compose music, play instruments, record & produce, engineer video, perform on stage, and many other skills. More than 100 kids have benefitted from the program, which is ten weeks and consists of two sessions of two hours each week. You can learn more here.

2012 Mayor's Celebration of the Arts

Unlike in years past, there was no intermission during last night’s event. That meant that the evening flowed smoothly and quickly, and it meant that everyone got to enjoy the after party! Food was sponsored by Northlands, and it was great to see so many people stick around for the party. It added an excellent social element to the show that I think was mostly missing from previous events. During the after party, a few volunteers walked around with iPod touches preloaded with Touch Metric’s Surveyor to ask attendees to fill out an exit survey. It worked really well!

2012 Mayor's Celebration of the Arts 2012 Mayor's Celebration of the Arts

Congratulations to all of the 2012 nominees and winners! And thank you to all of the sponsors who made the event possible!

This year I joined the event Steering Committee, so it was great to see how it all works from the other side. I joined about halfway through the planning for this year’s event, so I am definitely looking forward to having a bigger impact on next year’s edition!

You can see more photos from the evening here. You can read my previous recaps here: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011.

25th Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts – April 2, 2012

silver anniversaryThis year marks the silver anniversary of the Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts, a fun evening celebrating and showcasing local artists. Tickets are on sale now for the event which takes place on April 2, 2012 at the Winspear Centre.

Join us for our 25th anniversary of celebrating the arts in Edmonton! That’s right, we have been showcasing Edmonton’s artists for a quarter of a century, and we are marking this milestone with the most exciting show yet! Get ready for an evening of awards an an eclectic mix of performances that will awe and inspire you.

Sharon and I have attended for the past four years because we love getting introduced to local artists. The mix of performances also makes attending worthwhile – you get a nice cross-section of the local arts scene. For instance, this year’s performers include Tommy Banks, Christian Hansen and the Autistics, Colleen Brown, Citie Ballet, Sandro Dominelli, and the cast of Caution: May Contain Nuts.

Check out my previous recaps if you’re looking to get a sense of what the evening is all about: 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008.

This year proceeds from the event will support the Rock and Roll Society of Edmonton’s Centre for Art & Music, which mentors the next generation of musicians in our city, with a special focus on youth at risk.

For updates, follow @PACEEdmonton on Twitter and on Facebook. You can also check out the event on Facebook and at ShareEdmonton.

Get your tickets now! Hope to see you there!

Avenue Edmonton’s Top 40 Under 40 for 2011

top 40 under 40The third annual Top 40 Under 40 list was unveiled this evening at the Winspear Centre. Avenue Edmonton has once again highlighted an amazing group of Edmontonians doing some really great things in our city.

“We are extremely proud to celebrate this accomplished, creative and insightful group of fellow citizens,” said Avenue publisher Orville Chubb. “They exemplify the best of Edmonton’s spirit.”

Here’s the Top 40 for 2011 and where you can find them online (in alphabetical order):

The eagle-eyed among you may notice that there are actually 41 names in the list. The editor’s note in the issue explains the reason for this, but essentially there was some communication issues – the top 40 are busy people after all! The average age this year is 34.1, up from 33.4 in 2009 but down slightly from 34.6 in 2010.

Top 40 Under 40 for 2011
Erica Viegas graces the cover

Top 40 Under 40 for 2011
Erica Viegas, Tina Thomas, and Kari Skelton

Top 40 Under 40 for 2011
Todd Babiak

Top 40 Under 40 for 2011
Karen McDonald

Top 40 Under 40 for 2011
Christine Causing

Top 40 Under 40 for 2011
Cam Linke

Some of the names on the list are new to me, and that’s great – I love learning about awesome Edmontonians! I feel fortunate to know some of the others quite well. Congratulations to all!

The November issue of Avenue Magazine will be on stands across the city as of October 29. Watch for nominations for the 2012 list to open in the spring.

My photos from tonight’s event are here. See also my posts about the Class of 2010 and Class of 2009.

2011 Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts

The 24th annual Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts took place tonight at the Winspear Centre. Sharon and I attended for the fourth year in a row, and were happy to learn that this year our tickets would be supporting the Edmonton International Street Performers Festival’s Comedy Cares Program and the iHuman Youth Society. The evening always brings out an eclectic mix of Edmontonians, and features a broad range of local artists.

Mayor Mandel’s message in the event program thanked local businesses for their support of the arts:

I also offer a special thank you to the many Edmonton businesses and community organizations for their continued and unwavering support of the arts. Their generosity and encouragement have made a lasting difference to our artists, making it possible for them to achieve enormous success.

He echoed those thoughts during his time on stage, but also used the opportunity to call upon new businesses to step up in support of the arts. He noted that we see the same, few organizations year after year, and while they are absolutely appreciated, it would be nice to see some new faces join them. As he wrapped up, Mayor Mandel joked that he was done preaching for the evening, but I thought his comments were appropriate.

Mayor's Celebration of the Arts 2011
The Be Arthurs performed an interesting mix of songs as guests arrived, including Lady Gaga and the Ghostbusters theme!

The full list of tonight’s nominees is available at the PACE website. Here are the winners:

Mayor’s Award for Sustained Support of the Arts
Lexus of Edmonton, nominated by Alberta Ballet

Mayor’s Award for Innovative Support of the Arts by a Business
ATB Financial, nominated by Alberta Music Industry Association

John Poole Award for Promotion of the Arts
Avenue Magazine, nominated by Edmonton Opera

City of Edmonton Book Prize
Prodigal Daughter: A Journey to Byzantium by Myrna Kostash, University of Alberta Press

ATCO Gas Award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement
Charles Thomas Peacocke, nominated by Catalyst Theatre

Stantec Youth Award
Cynthia Hicks, nominated by Philippine Barangay Performing Arts Society

Northlands Award for an Emerging Artist
Arlen Konopaki, nominated by Tessi Flood

The Sutton Place Hotel People’s Choice Award
Ulrike Rossier, nominated by Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts

Molson Coors Award for Excellence in Artistic Direction
Sandro Dominelli, nominated by Nathalie Tait

TELUS Courage to Innovate Award
Geri Actors & Friends, nominated by Edmonton Seniors Coordinating Council

Mayor's Celebration of the Arts 2011Mayor's Celebration of the Arts 2011

Tonight’s performances included:

I quite enjoyed the Good Women Dance Collective, it was an interesting way to open the show. Roland Pemberton’s poem was new, for an upcoming public art project. He won the crowd over making reference to Keillor Road and the infamous baseball bat on Alberta Avenue. Kat Danser was great, as always, and the Strathcona High School’s theatre program students did a wonderful job with St. Aggies ‘84. Dave Babcock was an excellent selection to close the show, as his upbeat tunes made it possible for the return of the big closing dance! A few people got up on stage to shake it, but unfortunately it wasn’t as big as years past.

Congratulations to all of tonight’s nominees and winners!

Mayor's Celebration of the Arts 2011

Save the date for next year’s event, the 25th anniversary, set to take place on April 2, 2012.

You can see more photos from the evening here. You can read my previous recaps here: 2008, 2009, 2010.