Youth Media Alliance Selects Awards of Excellence Jury Chair

The Youth Media Alliance (YMA) has selected Sandrine Pechels de Saint Sardos, film commissioner at the Ottawa Film Office, to chair its 2023 Awards of Excellence jury.

Pechels de Saint Sardos has an extensive career across production, development and distribution, having held roles at Radio-Canada/CBC, TFO, Bejuba! Entertainment, Classic Media/DreamWorks and more.

At Radio-Canada/CBC, Pechels de Saint Sardos worked in sales and distribution. At Rocket Launch Media, which she co-founded, and Sanden Media, she worked on creating kids’ content from published book properties and distributed content domestically and internationally. When she was at TFO, she served as director of acquisitions and co-productions.

Prior to that, she spent nine years at Bejuba! Entertainment as executive VP of sales and acquisitions. She built a catalog of 600 half-hours of kids’ TV and secured co-development and co-production deals. When she worked at Classic Media/DreamWorks, she spearheaded WW sales and co-productions on Casper, George of the Jungle and more.

The 2023 Awards of Excellence ceremony is set to take place on May 31 in Toronto. Nominees will be announced in late March. The awards are sponsored by CBC, the Canada Media Fund and Sinking Ship Entertainment.