Youth Media Alliance Excellence Award Winners Revealed

The 2017 Youth Media Alliance gala, hosted by Studio K‘s Tony Kim, Janaye Upshaw and Victor Verbitsky, took place yesterday in Toronto, where the winners of this year’s Awards of Excellence were unveiled.

The grand prize for best production in all categories went to The Incredible Tales of Weirdwood Manor, produced by All Play, No Work and Relish Interactive. The award for best live-action program for ages 3 to 5 went to The Adventures of Napkin Man (Bye Bye Boogaloo), made by Breakthrough Entertainment and Little Airplane and broadcast on CBC Kids. The live-action winners for 6 to 9 and 9-plus were Annedroids (The Mother of Invention) and Giver (Amherstberg Sports Park), respectively. Both come from Sinking Ship Entertainment and aired on TVO Kids, with the former also on Amazon.

In the animation category, the best program for ages 3 to 5 was the second season of Peg + Cat (The Disappearing Art Problem), produced by 9 Story Media Group, The Fred Rogers Company and 9ate7 Productions, and broadcast on YTV, Treehouse and PBS Kids; while the prize for ages 6 to 9 went to Fangbone! (Cavity of Terror/The Sickness of Home), which comes from Radical Sheep Productions and aired on Family CHRGD and Disney XD.

The awards for best original digital content, best original interactive content and best cross-platform interactive content were respectively given to mathXplosion (GAPC Entertainment, TVO Kids, TFO), The Incredible Tales of Weirdwood Manor and Dotopedia (Industrial Brothers).

Steven DeNure, the president and chief operating officer at DHX Media, which he also co-founded, took home the outstanding achievement award. The emerging talent award went to Mars Horodyski, a director whose credits include The Next Step, Odd Squad and Dino Dana, to name a few.