Voting begins for Ontario Mining Association’s SYTYKM People’s Choice Award

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

 

The Canadian federal election is not the only polling that will be taking place today.  The on-line voting for the Ontario Mining Association’s So You Think You Know Mining (SYTYKM) high school video competition’s People’s Choice Award started May 1 and runs until midnight May 31.

Sixty videos, or about 75% of the total number of entries in this year’s SYTYKM competition, are in the running.  Go to the OMA website www.oma.on.ca and click on the SYTYKM box.  Then click on the People’s Choice Award panel.  You can view the videos and cast your ballot electronically.

In order to complete the mechanics of voting, no pencil or paper is required.  Click below your favourite video where it says “Vote for this video!”  Then check your e-mail box for a confirmation message from the OMA and click on the link provided.  This not only completes the voting process but it will ensure you are entered in the random draw to win an iPod. 

The People’s Choice Award itself carries a $2,500 prize.  Last year’s winners of this honour were Sara Johns and Carissa Schenck from Central Huron High School in Clinton for “Don’t Mined If I Do.”  All the videos eligible for the People’s Choice Award were screened and selected by the SYTYKM judging panel.  These videos were shortlisted by the judges based on originality, creativity, accuracy of information, effectiveness in message delivery and production quality.

There are five people on the SYTYKM judging panel for 2011.  Jack Blum is an actor, film producer and president of REEL Canada.  Christina Blizzard is a columnist for Sun Media.  James Cullingham is Professor of Journalism and English and Liberal Arts at Seneca College in Toronto and an independent movie producer.  Gord Nicholls is the night television news anchor for CTV in Sudbury and a Journalism Professor in the School of Communication at Cambrian College in Sudbury.  Dominique Dionne is Vice President Corporate Affairs for Xstrata Nickel.

The OMA thanks these volunteer judges who lend their own artistic talent, time, experience and expertise to assess the hard work of the students who enter the SYTYKM competition.  Without their support, the OMA would not be able to run this meaningful and successful province-wide video competition. 

As the People’s Choice Award voting progresses during May, you can check to see how your favourite video is doing.  A running total showing the percentage of votes captured by the 60 videos will be shown adjacent to each entry.

While the People’s Choice voting is taking place, the SYTYKM judging panel will be busy selecting the winners in each of the other seven categories – Best Overall, Best Directing, Best Screenplay, Best Music, Best Comedy, Best Animation and Best video in a language other than English.  Total prizes available this year is $25,500.  Best Overall earns $5,000 and the winners in all other categories win $2,500.  There are also additional prizes for schools and People Choice voters.

This all leads up to the big SYTYKM awards gala, which is being held on June 1 in Toronto at the Royal Ontario Museum.

Winners in the 2010 So You Think You Know Mining high school video competition were from the following schools in Ontario:

St. Benedicts in Sudbury, Nancy Campbell in London, Woodstock CI, Etobicoke School of the Arts in Toronto, Lockerby Composite in Sudbury, LaVerendrye in Thunder Bay and Central Huron in Clinton. 

The high school of the best overall winner receives money for video equipment.  Also, all high schools, which are home to three or more SYTYKM entries, are eligible for a random draw to win a prize for video equipment.