NEWS RELEASE: And . . . a drum roll please for the 2014 OMA SYTYKM video competition winners

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 stage is being set, the scripts are being finalized, the spotlights are being cleaned, the stars are rolling into town and tomorrow night, the winners of the 2014 Ontario Mining Association So You Think You Know Mining high school video competition will be revealed. More than 300 industry celebrities, students, educators and other supporters will be on hand for the sixth SYTYKM awards gala, which is being held in the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.

Several talented teenagers will walk off the stage with SYTYKM Oscar-style statuettes and prize money. “This year, $40,000 in prizes will be available to high school star filmmakers,” said OMA President Chris Hodgson. “Including the winners recognized tomorrow evening, since its inception, SYTYKM will have provided $173,000 in scholarship support for students.”

The producer of the Best Overall video wins $5,000 and his, or her, high school receives $500 to support filmmaking. First and Second Runners-Up for the Best Overall will receive prizes of $2,500 each. Winners in other categories including Best Writing, Best Music, Best Directing, Best Comedy, Best Animation, Best video in a language other than English, Best 30-Second Commercial, People’s Choice Award and the Award from the OMA Academy will also receive $2,500. This year, the Teachers’ Choice Award, also with a $2,500 prize, will be presented for the first time.

In addition, Ridwan Howlader from Danforth Tech in Toronto will be on hand to film the awards ceremony for future viewing on the OMA website. His production “Mining from a Plurality of Viewpoints” received Honourable Mention and also earned Ridwan a $500 prize, which is matched with a contribution to his high school. Numerous high schools, which provided three or more entries, are in the running through a random draw for a $2,000 prize for film equipment and software.

SYTYKM entries this year came from Ontario high schools in Clinton, London, Milton, Toronto, Barrie, Red Lake, Collingwood, Kitchener-Waterloo, Ottawa, Thunder Bay, Woodstock, the Niagara Peninsula, Haliburton and other centres. Virtually every region of the province is represented through SYTYKM entries including several videos from First Nations communities in Northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire area.

There are six members of the independent SYTYKM judging panel for 2014. Christina Blizzard is a columnist for Sun Media; Katarina Gligorijevic, creative consultant for REEL Canada and an independent film maker; James Cullingham is an independent movie producer and professor of film and media at Seneca College; Peter Fuchs is a communications specialist with Glencore; John Coulbourn is a film, arts and theatre critic; and, Joanne Kearney is vice president at the communications company Smithcom.

The Royal Ontario Museum is home to industry-supported mineral and gem galleries and the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame. The awards gala is attracting strong support from mining industry, government, media and the education sector.

For more information on the SYTYKM competition see the OMA website www.oma.on.ca. Come back tomorrow and see who the big winners are and watch for the launch of the seventh SYTYKM competition in the Fall of 2014.