International Jury Announced for 2008 Shaw Rocket Prize

CALGARY, January 30: The
Shaw Rocket Fund has unveiled the panel of international jurors that will
select the finalists of the 2008 Shaw Rocket Prize, which awards C$50,000 to the
best independently produced Canadian youth or family program.

The jurors for the 2008
Shaw Rocket Prize include Adina Pitt, the VP of content acquisitions and
co-productions for Cartoon Network and Boomerang; Finn Arnesen, the senior VP
and general manager for original series in Europe, Africa and the Middle East
for Turner Broadcasting; Frank Dietz, the head of acquisition and co-production
for Super RTL; Marc Buhaj, the senior VP of programming for Jetix Europe; and
Michael Carrington, the controller of CBeebies, BBC Children's.

The panel will review
entries from the Canadian children's television industry and create a short
list of finalists for the Shaw Rocket Prize, which honors the year's best
Canadian children's, youth and family television programs; this year's focus
will be on programming for children 12 and younger.

The entries contending for
the C$50,000 prize will be announced on February 14 at the KidScreen Summit in
New York City. A jury of Canadian students participating in a school-based
media literacy program will select the 2008 winner. The recipient will be
presented with the prize at an industry event on April 30 in Toronto.

"The excellent
credentials and superior knowledge of the 2008 jury panel is an affirmation of
the importance the Shaw Rocket Prize within the industry," said Agnes
Augustin, the president of the Shaw Rocket Fund. "We sincerely appreciate
the commitment of the jury panel, whose insight will ensure the very best in
Canadian children's programming is selected."

Established in 2005 by the
Shaw Rocket Fund as the largest award of its kind in Canada, the Shaw Rocket
Prize is open to independent, Canadian producers of children's, youth and
family programming. Now entering its fourth year, the prize is designed to fuel
the children's production industry by supporting and celebrating the best of
Canadian television programming for kids.

—By Irene Lew