Banff Announces Winners for Non-Fiction Rockies, Pilot Competition

BANFF: The recipients of the Banff World Media Festival’s Non-Fiction Rockies have been unveiled in the categories of reality, documentary and lifestyle, while five winners were named from the international pilot competition.

Dragons’ Den (season five, episode eight) won for best reality program, while MTV’s World of Jenks won for best documentary-style reality program. For children’s content, A Family is a Family: A Rosie O’Donnell Celebration took the Rockie for 2+, with TeenNick HALO Awards 2010 winning for 13+.

Heston’s Feast‘s "Heston’s Chocolate Factory Feast" won for best lifestyle and information program. Human Planet‘s "Deserts: Life in the Furnace" was the Rockie winner for wildlife and natural history. In the category of popular science and technology, Wonders of the Solar System‘s "Empire of the Sun" took the win. Architects of Change‘s "To Innovate is to Imitate" scored the nod in the environmental arena, while the BBC Scotland-produced Vincent Van Gogh Painted with Words was the winner for arts and performing arts program.

Zimbabwe’s Forgotten Children came out on top in the category for investigative and current affairs program. Sergio, produced for HBO, won the Rockie for best history and biography program.

Documentaries receiving honors include Living the End, for social and humanitarian; Remote Control War, for political; and Tchernobyl, une histoire naturelle?, in the Francophone category.

“As the success of our host Mike Holmes indicates, non-fiction programming has taken off in a huge way in the last few years,” said Georges Leclere, the director of awards and competitions for the Banff World Media Festival. “The new attention to this genre has brought some incredibly talented people to the space, and this is definitely reflected in the quality of our nominees and winners.”

From the international pilot competition, a jury selected five entries submitted from around the world. The grand prize winner is Peter Piper and the Plane People, produced by Studio Pascal Blais. The program also won in the youth and children’s category. For documentary program, Shoot to Thrill, from iMotion in association with Hot Flash Productions, took the win. La Fontaine, from Tech You Media in association with McLink Enterprises, won in the drama category. Magee TV’s Night Chef won for entertainment pilot.