THUNDER BAY – Music and Film in Motion (MFM) is gearing up for the ninth annual Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards program. Today marks the official opening of this year’s submission period.
This year, MFM is introducing a new online submission process through a company called adbeast. The Toronto based company helps run over 25 awards programs throughout North America. This new process will eliminate manufacturing, duplication and shipping costs for musicians and filmmakers. It will also allow the person who is submitting the chance to complete the submission at their own pace. In addition, this system will help facilitate the jury process.
The music award categories for 2012 are Album of the Year by a Solo Artist, Album of the Year by a Duo or Group, Songwriter of the Year, Engineer of the Year, and Vocal Performance of the Year.
The film award categories for 2012 are Film of the Year, Director of the Year, Film Editor of the Year, Cinematographer of the Year, and Screenwriter of the Year. To be eligible, submissions must have been released during the Eligibility Period from January 1, 2010 to October 28, 2011 inclusively.
Artist eligibility includes having been born in Northern Ontario, having been a resident of Northern Ontario for a period of at least 5 consecutive years or having lived for a period of eight (8) consecutive months in Northern Ontario during the period of January 1, 2010 to October 28, 2011 inclusively. For a group, at least 50% of its members must meet the above residency requirements, unless the category they are entering indicates otherwise.
MFM would like to invite and encourage all Francophone and Aboriginal artists, industry professionals and businesses to submit their projects to the 2012 Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards Program. French language and Aboriginal submissions are eligible and encouraged in all categories of the Awards Program. To celebrate the works of Northern Ontario’s Francophone and Aboriginal communities, MFM will offer a Francophone and/or Aboriginal specific award should we receive a minimum of four submissions in any one of the five creative categories “Album of the Year by a Solo Artist”, “Album of the Year by a Duo or Group”, “Songwriter of the Year”, “Film of the Year” or “Screenwriter of the Year”.
For the purposes of our program, Northern Ontario comprises the territorial districts of Algoma, Cochrane, Kenora, Manitoulin, Nipissing, Parry Sound, Rainy River, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Temiskaming and the District Municipality of Muskoka.
Artists may nominate and submit themselves or be nominated by someone else. The fees are $15 per submission HST not included for MFM members and $30 per submission HST not included for non-members. All submissions must be received no later than 5 p.m. on October 28, 2011.
The award submissions are juried each year by prominent individuals in the Canadian music and film industries. There will be three nominees selected for each category. The winners will be announced during the Awards Ceremony to be held in Sudbury on Saturday, April 28th, 2012.
Each year, an honorary Trailblazer Award is also handed out in recognition of an individual, group or organization that has made outstanding contributions to either the music or film industry in the North.
Full category descriptions, eligibility requirements, entry regulations and the submission website link is available online at www.thinknorth.ca. For further questions regarding the Awards Program please contact MFM at (705) 674-9954, toll-free at 1-866-674-9954 or via e-mail at awards@thinknorth.ca.