Village Gamer

Toronto – Creativeworks Productions is proud to announce they have won platinum for the GreenPrint animated video in this year’s Hermes Creative Awards competition. Hermes recognizes outstanding work in the industry, attracting thousands of creative artists from around the world. Their annual creative awards are judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP).

The GreenPrint animated video was created for the Town of Markham, known for embracing new technologies and innovative approaches in communication. Markham’s GreenPrint sustainability plan targets residents of all ages, including youth. The GreenPrint video, targeting the difficult to reach 11-18 youth market, was created to generate excitement for Markham’s new youth website, www.markham.ca/greenprint, and to create a buzz in the youth market.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiKQ1h4u_M0]

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Toronto – The Order of the Business Hall of Fame officially welcomed this year’s Order of the Business Hall of Fame Companions 31st annual Gala Dinner Induction Ceremony last night at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

The annual awards program honours leaders of Canadian business who have made exceptional contributions to the economy, community and Canadian society. “In today’s economy, it is more important than ever to have active role models who demonstrate exceptional leadership. The 2009 Inductees are examples of what all of us in business and education might aspire to, said Ross Maund, President, Junior Achievement of Canada Foundation.
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Salzburg – Australia, Austria, Canada and New Zealand will walk the stage at the World Summit Award Gala on June 12th and collect the winning trophies for the world’s best e-Contents. These four countries emerged as clear leaders in the global contest held in the framework of the United Nations and its follow-on activities to the World Summit on Information Society.

Canadian Winners:

A Journey Into Time Immemorial from the Simon Fraser University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Department won the e-Culture & Heritage Award. The site, which is based on First Nations traditional knowledge and content was developed in collaboration with the Sto:lo web site development committee and staff of the Xa:ytem Longhouse Interpretive Center. It is an artistic and cultural interpretation and is not meant to convey precisely accurate archaeological information. Contemporary archaeologists view First Nations as partners and value oral traditions as a source of information about the past that augments the scientific approach.

The multi-award winning site Homeless Nation was victorious in the e-Inclusion & Participation category. Homeless Nation is a non-profit endeavor founded by Daniel Cross, a documentary filmmaker whose films deal with social justice and Canada’s homeless. Montreal-based Homeless Nation is an internet forum where Canada’s homeless community could share their stories and refuse to be ignored. A place to create equal access to online media, of sharing truths through audio/visual content for everyone to learn from. To have these stories told as an on-going dialogue for social awareness and positive change.

Genomics Digital Lab took top prize in the e-Science & Technology category. Operated by Toronto’s SpongeLab, Genomics Digital Lab is an integrated on-line learning environment where users experience the world of biology through discovery-based learning. GDL was developed as a series of curriculum-aligned and integrated games, modules, and interactive simulations covering an array of topics in biology. To meet the needs of students, teachers, and schools, GDL is designed to be fully online, accessible through a web browser, with no downloads, or installation, accessible from home or school, and provides teachers with much needed class creation tools and integrated real-time assessment. Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver – New Media BC is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2009 Individual Stand Out Awards!

* Individual Stand Out: Industry Advocacy

– Dennis Chenard, Director of Industry Relation, Masters of Digital Media Program, Great Northern Way Campus
– Danny Robinson, Managing Director, Bootup Labs / Co-founder, Launch Party Vancouver
– Lynda Brown, Digital Media Consultant / Co-founder, zuluMe

* Individual Stand Out: Digital Education
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Canada – The vast nominee lists for the UK’s 27th Annual Golden Joystick Awards has been released, and mixed amongst the hundreds of titles are a good portion of Canadian-made titles – led by Ubisoft and EA Canada (see below). The Golden Joysticks is the oldest gaming awards ceremony in the world, with every winner voted upon by the gaming public. In 2008, over 850 000 votes were cast to decide the winners. The Golden Joystick Awards Ceremony will be held on October 30th, the Grand Finale to the London Game Festival in the UK.

Awards categories include Family Game of the Year, Handheld Game of the Year, Mobile Game of the Year, Multiplayer Game of the Year, Nintendo Game of the Year, Xbox Game of the Year, PlayStation Game of the Year, Multiplayer Game of the Year, Online Game of the Year, Publisher of the Year, PC Game of the Year, Retailer of the Year, Soundtrack of the Year, UK Developer of the Year, The One To Watch, and the Ultimate Game of the Year.
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Vancouver – The Society of Graphic Designers of Canada – BC Chapter presents the POGO 2009 Conference. Taking place this May 8th and 9th, the POGO Conference provides an unparalleled opportunity for design students, graduates and design newcomers to learn, connect, guide and inspire each others creative thinking. Developed with this experience in mind, the conference includes studio tours, creative workshops and portfolio critique. It’s also a great opportunity to learn and network – at a very reasonable price. A two day full conference pass is only $55.00 for GDC members, and $95.00 for non-members. Tickets are also available for individual days and events.

May 8 Schedule:

The GDC/BC Pogo Studio Tours provides the opportunity to check out three of Vancouver’s hottest creative environments and one of North America’s most awarded printers, Metropolitan Fine Printers.

Sign up, get a guided tour and check out how each of these firms think about not only their work, but about their space. The studios selected for this tour are Subplot, Rethink Communications and Burnkit.
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Vancouver – Just a reminder to our readers – there is only one more day of voting left for the NMBC PopVox Awards, which will be presented next month during Vancouver Digital Week. Tickets for the PopVox Awards are still available through the PopVox web site. After a quick email verification process, members of the public can vote for their favourite entry in the following categories:

Best Student Project
Best Start Up
Best Do-Gooder (Social Change Initiative)
Best Company Use of Social Media
Best User Generated/Crowd-sourced Content Site
Best Mobile Application
Best Game (Handheld)
Best Social Media Application
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Vancouver –  Clio is officially “Best in Show” according to the world of legal technology. The web-based practice management software-as-a-service (SaaS) product took home top honors at both New York LegalTech in February as one of Bob Ambrogi’s LegalTalkNetwork’s “Ten Tech Stars”, and more recently, the ABA TECHSHOW in April by landing on TechnoLawyer’s “Best in Show” list.

Clio’s meteoric rise began on October 1, 2008 when the product was launched at the ABA’s Solo/Small Firm Fall Meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The product, created by Themis Solutions out of Vancouver, BC in Canada, was developed as a web-based alternative to traditional desktop practice management software packages such as Time Matters and Amicus Attorney. With Clio, Themis Solutions quickly developed traction among its target market – solo and small firm attorneys – a segment that had been vastly under-served by existing legal technology offerings.
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Panel of Judges Picks Nitobi’s PhoneGap As One of Five Chosen from Over 80 Applications

Vancouver – Nitobi Inc. has announced that its PhoneGap project has won a coveted spot in Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco’s Launch Pad taking place Thursday, April 2 during the Web 2.0 Expo, in San Francisco.

Nitobi will present PhoneGap along with four other companies to a panel of industry experts including Anand Iyer of Microsoft BizSpark, Marshall Kirkpatrick of ReadWriteWeb and Matt Marshall of Venture Beat. Nitobi CEO, Andre Charland, will showcase PhoneGap in front of a live audience at Web 2.0 Expo, the leading global gathering of developers, designers, marketers, and business professionals building the next generation Web. John Battelle, Founder/Chairman/CEO of Federated Media and Program Chair of Web 2.0 Summit, will host the live competition where each company will present for five minutes for feedback from both the judges and audience members.

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Toronto – Voice actors around the world are taking note of news hot off the press, released on Voices.com’s blog, through an article indicating who the winners are of the industry’s coveted Voicey Awards. Voice overs are spoken word recordings performed by voice actors, perhaps better known to the world as unseen narrators, breathing life into every digital medium imaginable. The Voicey Awards pay tribute to works and contributions made over the year by individual and collaborating voice talent.

Winners of the 3rd Annual Voicey Awards include:

Best Male Voice: Dave DeAndrea
Best Female Voice: Amy Taylor
Best New Voice: Michelle Ann Dunphy
Best Foreign Voice: Wuzhi Lu
Best Child Voice: Grace Taylor
Best Teen Voice: Sophie Neveu
Best Voice Team: Robert Jadah and Diane Havens
Best Personal Branding: Julie Williams
Lifetime Achievement: Don Morrow

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