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Summary
Youth Media Alliance (YMA) is looking for promising entrepreneurial Canadian students at the university level who show a talent and passion for creating innovative children’s content.
Two outstanding Canadian students planning to pursue a career in children’s television (animation or live action) or digital media production will be selected to receive the YMA Andra Sheffer Scholarship. The award enables recipients to attend the Kidscreen Summit in Miami and Banff World Media Festival in Alberta, as well as access mentorship resources throughout the year.
Recipients will obtain invaluable exposure and opportunities to pursue a career in the children’s media industry.
The top prize scholarship includes $2,000 CAD in cash to cover travel costs, one Kidscreen Summit conference registration (valued at approximately $1,695 USD) and one Banff World Media Festival registration (valued at approximately $1,695 USD).
The total value is approximately $6,000 CAD, cash and in-kind. The runner-up prize scholarship includes one Kidscreen Summit conference registration (valued at approximately $1,695 USD) and $1,000 CAD in cash to cover travel costs.
Mentorship, provided to ensure the recipients benefit fully from the events, will be offered by YMA staff, Board of Directors members and children’s industry stakeholders and may include the following: help with choosing the most appropriate sessions, event orientation, personal introductions to industry members, attendance of networking meetings and, as appropriate, a review of the student’s pitch documents.
The Kidscreen Summit, the children’s entertainment industry’s most important annual conference, will be held in Miami, Florida, February 10–13, 2020.
The Banff World Media Festival provides delegates with the opportunity to meet global leaders and celebrate the world’s best content and talent. (Banff, Alberta, June 7–10, 2020 -Dates TBC).
Both conferences include workshops, keynotes, presentations and panels exploring trends, innovations, critical issues and business solutions for the industry. The award recipient will have complete access to all events along with networking opportunities under the guidance of an Alliance member.
The Application deadline is October 4, 2019. The form is available here on our Intranet.
Eligibility:
- Canadian citizens and permanent residents who are senior-level (3rd or 4th year) undergraduate or graduate students in animation, film, television or digital media production and who show a strong interest in children’s media.
- The online application form must be submitted by October 4, 2019.
- Applicants must provide a letter of support from at least one professor. Optionally, the applicant may also provide letters from children’s media industry firms for whom they have worked or where they have held paid or unpaid internships.
- Personal expression of interest and need: applicants must submit a short essay outlining their specific interest in the children’s entertainment, television or digital media industries and how the scholarship could benefit their career.
- Outline of at least one project the applicant would like to develop and pitch (200 words), which will require to be presented to members of the Selection Committee during a phone meeting.
- Describe specific objectives of attending Kidscreen and Banff markets which would help to advance the project.
- Availability to attend the events in Miami (February 10–13, 2020) and Banff (June 7–10, 2020-Dates TBC).
- A final report about the experiences provided by this scholarship (200 words) is requested by August 21, 2020.
Selection Process: A committee formed of Youth Media Alliance members will evaluate all applications and select the recipient. Applicants will be notified by November, 2019.
About:
Andra Sheffer is the CEO of the Independent Production Fund, which invests in drama series created for digital platforms and the Cogeco TV Production Program for the production of television drama series. Previously, her achievements included founding the Bell Fund, for which she served as Executive Director (1997–2014). When she retired from this position in 2015, Andra was honoured with the YMA’s Outstanding Achievement Award. This scholarship in her name was established by members of the Canadian children’s TV and digital media industry.
The YMA Andra Sheffer Scholarship has been made possible thanks to the following financial partners: 9 Story Media Group, Apartment 11 Productions, Breakthrough Entertainment, Brunico, CMPA National and CMPA-BC Producers Branch, DHX Television, Give me Chocolate, Guru Studio, marblemedia, Portfolio Entertainment, Radical Sheep-A Boat Rocker Media Company, Secret Location, Sinking Ship Entertainment, Shaftesbury and the Shaw Rocket-Fund.
Youth Media Alliance (YMA) seeks to enrich the lives of Canadian children and teens by helping improve the quality of the content created for them on all screen-based media. The Alliance pursues its mission of encouraging high-quality content by presenting annual awards of excellence to the best productions targeting young English- and French-speaking Canadians. It offers ongoing training tailored to the special needs of youth production professionals through workshops, seminars, and special events such as the Children, Youth & Media and Média-Jeunes conferences. Since 2015, the Youth Media Alliance has developed and now offers three scholarships: the YMA Andra Sheffer, the YMA Thérèse-Pinho and the YMA Steven DeNure Scholarships. It also conducts original research investigating the impact of screen-based media on young people. Finally, Youth Media Alliance advocates for the needs of Canada’s child and youth media consumers in matters of public policy.