1. Prizes: $95,000 in prizes (part seed capital, part products and services)
2. A live pitch event, judged by leading technology and business leaders
3. A full year of follow-up editorial exposure (successes, challenges, advice) in print and online

The winner will receive:

• $20,000 in cash
• $60,000 in related products and/or service
• one year of mentoring and business assistance from a team of Canadian business and technology experts
• one year of on-going coverage in Backbone magazine and online

The runner-up will receive: 

• $5,000 in cash
• $10,000 in related products and/or services

The top 200 applicants will also receive invitations to the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT), Oct. 22 to 24 in Montreal.

The competition application form is available online. Qualified entrants are early-stage companies, with revenue of no more than $2 million annually. Successful entrants will have a ready-to-sell product or service and a complete business plan and market analysis. Any business or technology sector is relevant.

Timing of campaign

Backbone will create an online “Innovation Campaign Portal” in addition to the publication, where readers can monitor the winner’s advancements, successes, resources and challenges in weekly blog posts, tweets and other Web content.

“The campaign is consistent with Backbone’s mandate of inspiring innovation and helping companies learn from other businesses”, says Steve Dietrich, Publisher of Backbone magazine.

Alpha Group, the founding sponsor, is an organization established in 2007 to reinvigorate trading in Canada. With its Alternative Trading System, Alpha Group brought the change the financial industry was waiting for in the trading space. Now, with the formation of its Exchange, Alpha Group is looking at bringing similar change to the Canadian listing space driven by what issuers and investors need.

“We are determined to help build the eco-system that Canadian technology entrepreneurs are currently missing in the initial and early stages of their business.” states Jos Schmitt, CEO of Alpha Group.

Additional Gold, Silver and Bronze sponsors include: HP, ORION, Ceridian, Ryerson Digital Media Zone, Wildeboer Dellelce, BCTIA’s Centre for Growth, Financial Technology Partners, World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT).

The City is a free, Web-based learning program developed by FCAC and the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC). The City is easily accessible and can be used by teachers and students online or on paper. In order to qualify to win the laptops, students face a “100% challenge”: they must complete four modules in The City and score 100 percent on a follow-up quiz. The three winners will be chosen randomly from a draw of all qualified entrants. The contest is open until March 31, 2012.

The contest rules are available on FCAC’s website, or can be obtained by calling the Agency’s Consumer Services Centre toll-free at 1-866-461-3222.

Teachers and students who have used The City talk about their experience in FCAC’s Success Stories videos featuring students in Alberta and New Brunswick.

“As technology continues to evolve, it is more important than ever for young people to understand the importance of protecting their privacy, and their right to control their own personal information. Encouraging youth to create videos for a contest is a wonderful way to spread this message,” said Dr. Ann Cavoukian, Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. “To that end, my Office recently launched several teacher resource guides to teach students Privacy by Design, and how this can be designed into information technologies, business practices, and networked infrastructure, as the default condition.”

Trend Micro continues to team with leading organizations involved in educating schools, parents, and youth about the safe and responsible use of technology. The 2012 judging panel includes:

• Common Sense Media
• ConnectSafely
• Cyberbullying Research Center
• Facebook
• The Identity Theft Resource Center
• Office of the Privacy Commissioner/Ontario
• Twitter
• The Wireless Foundation
• Yahoo! Safely

“When ‘What’s Your Story?’ first started, I couldn’t imagine the success we would build. On this matter, young people have a lot to say. And they have proven their ability to tackle some pretty difficult topics in smart, thoughtful and creative ways,” said Lynette Owens, director of Trend Micro Internet Safety for Kids & Family. “Their videos have traveled far in educating their peers – from the screens of Times Square to classrooms around the world. I am extremely proud of each and every contestant and I am grateful for our partners, both past and present, who have helped make this possible.”

What’s Your Story? will award a grand prize of $10,000 to the winning entry, with special categories for schools and individuals who submit entries. For the 2012 contest, Trend Micro is introducing new categories in the U.S. and Canada challenging anyone 13 years and older, (outside of Quebec) including teachers working with their classes, to create videos that offer thoughtful and compelling solutions in the following categories:

1. Take action against bullying: How would you help a friend being bullied online?
2. Keep a good rep online: What’s the right way to share?
3. Be cell smart: How can someone new to cell phones use it wisely?

Contest winners will be announced in early May. Follow @WYSContest on Twitter for updates on the contest.

“We are searching for romantic hopefuls from across the country that represent the true scope of the vibrant, fun and fearless women here in Canada,” said Claire Freeland, Director of Original Programming, Rogers Media, and Executive Producer of The Bachelor Canada. “This is an extraordinary opportunity for bachelorettes currently on a quest for love and willing to put it all on the line to find it.”

The nationwide casting tour is calling on all eligible Canadian women over the age of majority to take part in what could be the most important blind date of their lives. Whether single and ready to settle down, unlucky in love, or never been kissed – The Bachelor Canada is looking for 25 lucky ladies who are ready to find their happily ever after by winning the heart of one special bachelor.

Please read the show’s complete rules and regulations on what it takes to be eligible for The Bachelor Canada. For example, participants must be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada.

Casting tour details are as follows (doors open one hour prior to indicated start times):

*all venues are subject to change

The Bachelor Canada is the Canadian version of the perennially successful The Bachelor franchise currently in its 16^th season on Citytv and OMNI Television. This nine-episode, original reality series is produced by multiple award-winning Force Four Entertainment, with John Ritchie, Sean De Vries, and Joyce Sawa serving as Executive, Supervising, and Series Producer, respectively. Claire Freeland is the Director of Original Programming for Rogers Media and an Executive Producer of The Bachelor Canada.

Additional production and broadcast details will be announced at a later date. Participants unable to attend the casting tour can submit their application online. Follow the show on Twitter @BachelorCA and “like” us on Facebook for the latest updates, info and announcements.

Students can register online for Imagine Cup Canada 2012 to compete in one of two Canadian platform categories: Windows Phone 7 Game Design, registration closes February 14, or Software Design, registration closes March 13. Microsoft will fly the top three teams from each category to Toronto for the Canadian Finals.  The winning Software Design team in Canada and the top 10 international finalists in the Game Design category will then be flown to compete in the Worldwide Finals in Sydney, Australia this July.

“The Imagine Cup is a global competition that empowers and inspires passion and idealism in students and encourages them to apply classroom learning to solve real-world problems,” said Gladstone Grant, Vice President, Developer & Platform Group, Microsoft Canada Inc.  “Microsoft is proud to support our Canadian students through this annual competition which cultivates a spirit of social and technological entrepreneurialism.”

By participating in the Imagine Cup 2012, students have the chance to learn new technological skills and win cash, grants and prizes.  They also have the opportunity to network with peers, pursue career opportunities and test themselves against the brightest students from around the world.  Last year, more than 350,000 students representing 183 countries and regions entered the competition.

“Competing in the Imagine Cup is a unique experience that offers students the opportunity to creatively apply classroom learning to real-world problems, while pushing the envelope to create ideas never thought of before,” said William Hoang, Engineer Team Lead on team Bamboo & Papyrus: embedded software design, 1st place finalist Imagine Cup Canada 2009.  “At the same time, students gain valuable technical skills and learn how to overcome challenges while building friendships and gaining real-world experience. Imagine Cup Canada is an unforgettable experience for any student.”

For inspiration, students can review some of the world’s most challenging social issues as identified within the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (PDF). From designing mobile healthcare applications to enabling access to quality education for all children and creating mobile games that teach youth disease prevention or environmental sustainability, young social innovators are using technology to make a difference in the life of people around the world and in their own communities. Canadian students can also enter to compete globally in additional categories as identified on the global Imagine Cup website.

Every student team has the opportunity to engage a mentor – someone to inspire them, answer their questions and guide them through the competition.  Mentors can be faculty members from the students’ schools or industry experts who wish to support the next generation of student developers.  More details on mentorship can be found on the Canadian Imagine Cup website.

Independent musicians or groups who win the contest will receive a free DMDS Pro membership, which is YANGAROO’s advanced account offering, providing winners with the full suite of features and flexibility for delivering music and music video content to over 3000 radio stations, and television broadcasters such as MTV, VH1, BET, CMT, GAC, Fuse, MuchMusic and others, plus over a hundred additional promotional destinations for review and airplay consideration.

“The Internet allows musicians and amateur artists to present their music to a huge audience at low cost without the need of a recording label. However, you still – sooner or later – need the power of mass media to conquer the world,” said Johan Gil, Online Marketing and Account Relations Coordinator, DMDS. “We are helping artists with ‘connecting the dots’ to the radio stations and TV networks! What’s more, we strongly believe in relationships and making dreams come true! That’s why we have created this contest in order to support the talent of artists who lack the knowledge of getting to major broadcasters and/or do not possess the resources to be presented in front of the decision makers.”

“The fact that DMDS is used by all four major record labels and many influential indie labels, positions DMDS as the preferred choice to submit singles and music videos for airplay and broadcast consideration to the radio and TV,” said Adam Hunt, VP, Sales, YANGAROO Inc. “However, we feel independent artists represent the niche markets that could better benefit from our services – not only the Anglophone community, but also the Hispanic and Francophone communities. We hope Rising Star will serve to increase awareness of the accessibility and the exposure that DMDS can provide at mainstream media outlets.”

Yangaroo DMDS is inviting anyone who wants to participate in the contest to visit this link. And for all who are music community-related or support independent artists and music, please promote, create buzz and spread the word about the contest. Note: be sure to read the rules if you are entering.

The 2011-2012 competition, open to all full-time University Graduate students, will focus on the humanitarian application for Heavy Lift Hybrid Air Vehicles (HLHAV). The students will examine the capabilities and operating characteristics of HLHAV and determine their ability to offer a solution to global suffering. The analysis should match or consider strengths and weaknesses of Heavy Lift solutions applied to specific humanitarian missions and result in clear and logically derived conclusions.

“Discovery Air Innovations is thrilled to sponsor the HAV student competition,” said DAI’s Director of Business Development, Stephen Newton.  “Heavy Lift Hybrid Air Vehicles are a promising technology for the future with significant application in circumstances such as humanitarian missions where conventional modes of transportation may not be feasible. Getting students involved in the developmental phase of this technology is essential for the future of this technology.”

The Canadian Transportation Research Forum (CTRF,) a non-profit association that promotes the development of research in transportation “has a long history of encouraging students to pursue transportation-related studies through student paper competitions and scholarship awards,” said Vijay Gill, President of CTRF. “We are proud to be able to extend that history through our collaboration with DAI.”

“We are very pleased that our students will have the opportunity to engage in innovative ideas with meaningful applications,” commented Dr. Paul Earl, Director, Transport Institute, I.H. Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba. “The trauma of natural disasters is accentuated by disruptions to the transportation systems that limit humanitarian logistics efforts.  This initiative provides an opportunity to explore the role that hybrid aircraft could play in saving lives and relieving suffering when conventional logistical services are interrupted.”

The deadline for the competition is March 31, 2012 and all submissions are being judged by the CTRF. Winning authors will be awarded $500 and $250 for first and second prize respectively.

Here’s what Zero Day Initiative had to say about the 2012 event on the organization’s blog: “As the vulnerability purchasing landscape is a dynamic one, we have decided to re-architect the contest to more closely reflect the value of the exploits demonstrated. As such, there will be only 3 winners this year. That way the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishers will walk away with more cash than ever before. To that end, this year Hewlett-Packard is committing $105,000 USD in cash prizes for the event. We are also proud to announce that Google has once again stepped up to sponsor the event (the only vendor to have ever done so), promising cash prizes for vulnerabilities affecting their Chrome browser.

In the past, the contest has garnered attention worldwide – not only within our information security industry, but with the actual end users. We believe this to be the most valuable aspect of Pwn2Own and continually strive to achieve security awareness to as wide an audience as possible. Announcements regarding the contest will be distributed via the official twitter account @Pwn2Own_Contest as well as being posted here.”

Pwn2Own Overview:

The contest will take place at the CanSecWest conference in Vancouver during the 7th, 8th, and 9th of March.

There will be 4 targets this year, the most popular browsers on the market:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer
• Apple Safari
• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox

The targets will be running on the latest, fully patched version of either Windows 7 or Lion.

The contest will be point-based and the winners will be the top three point-holders at the end of the final day. No team or individual can win without having demonstrated at least one 0day vulnerability.

Any contestant who demonstrates a working 0day exploit against the latest version of the browser will be awarded 32 points. When the contest begins we will be announcing 2 vulnerabilities per target that were patched in recent years. The first contestant (or team) who is able to write an exploit for the announced vulnerabilities will be awarded 10, 9, or 8 points depending on the day the exploit is demonstrated.

Unlike last year, the browsers will be eligible for all attacks (and subsequent points) throughout the contest.

Prizes:

The first place winner will receive a payment from Hewlett-Packard in the amount of $60,000 USD. Second place will be awarded $30,000 and third place, $15,000 USD. Additionally, the laptops themselves will be awarded as prizes to the winners at the end of the contest.

With regard to Chrome, Google is offering the following cash prizes:

Full Chrome pwn: uses only bugs in Chrome itself to gain full unsandboxed code execution. $20,000 USD per fully disjoint bug set.

Partial Chrome pwn: uses bugs in Chrome and bugs in the operating system to gain full unsandboxed code execution. $10,000 USD per fully disjoint bug set.

“Non-Chrome pwn”: uses only OS bugs for the pwn. e.g. Windows kernel font parsing vulns, driver vulns, $0 USD (not eligible).

Technical Details:

0 day Vulnerabilities:

The browsers and corresponding operating systems will be fully updated on first day of the contest. Contestants can request to demonstrate a vulnerability at any time during the offical CanSecWest conference hours. A successful compromise of a fully-patched browser will be worth 32 points.

Public Vulnerabilities:

The browsers will be installed on Windows XP (for Firefox, IE, and Chrome) and Snow Leopard (for Safari). That way, the only exploit mitigation that must be overcome is DEP (no ASLR). Also, we will not require a sandbox or protected mode escape for any of the public vulnerability exploits.

To get the competitors started, we will be distributing virtual machine images with the software installed on the proper operating system as well as a proof of concept trigger that will cause the browser to fault.

On the first day (March 7th) a successful compromise using one of the public vulnerabilities will be worth 10 points. On the second day (March 8th) such an attack will be worth 9 points. On the third day, 8 points. This decaying point structure is intended to reduce the likelihood of a tie.

The specific browser versions will be announced on the first day of the contest.

All vulnerabilities demonstrated will be subject to confirmation by the Pwn2Own judges before being officially recognized. This is intended to ensure that duplicate vulnerabilities are not utilized by multiple teams, as well as more complicated situations such as a vulnerability being used against a browser that includes Webkit, but may not be synced with the Webkit nightly trunk (not eligible).

TVO is challenging aspiring and accomplished filmmakers, artistic visionaries and amateur film buffs across Ontario to think about all that can happen in five minutes, and then to capture it on film. Inspired by filmmaker-in-residence Alan Zweig (Vinyl, I Curmudgeon, Lovable, A Hard Name), TVO’s Doc Studio Contest dares participants to reveal “Life in 5″ – a memorable moment, a shift in perception, a secret no one else could uncover – through an interview-based, five-minute film.

“Asking filmmakers to submit a documentary under five minutes in length forces them to hone in on the true essence of a story,” says TVO’s supervising producer, Jane Jankovic. “The Doc Studio Contest is all about capturing what moves us and illuminates our lives and our world. There are thousands of untold stories out there. I can’t wait to see what we get.”

The winning film will air on TVO in the spring of 2012 and its filmmaker will receive a mentoring session with Alan Zweig as well as an industry pass to the 2012 International Hot Docs Festival.

“Hot Docs is delighted to support TVO’s Doc Studio Contest,” says Hot Docs’ executive director, Chris McDonald. “Years before the Hot Docs Festival or the new Bloor-Hot Docs Cinema, TVO was one of the only places to see creative documentaries in this province. TVO has helped to nurture the public appetite for these docs, and we are very glad they did!”

Universities and colleges across Ontario are teaming up with TVO to show their support. Brock University, Humber College, Ryerson University, the University of Toronto, the University of Western Ontario, the University of Ottawa, and many more are joining in to help foster talent from new filmmakers.

A panel of judges, including Zweig, will evaluate eligible entries and select the top five films. TVO will showcase the five finalists on docstudio.tvo.org from March 5 to 11, 2012 and TVO’s online audience will vote on the winner. The Grand Prize winner will be announced on March 12, 2012.

Entries can be submitted via YouTube or by mail with a completed entry form, a brief description of the film and a short biography. The contest closes Monday, February 27, 2012.  For complete entry details, visit the Doc Studio Contest page. Stay up-to-date by following Doc Studio on Twitter @tvodocstudio and liking us on our new Facebook page.

A leader in Canadian point-of-view documentaries, TVO devotes more than 50% of its primetime schedule to documentaries. That is 1,430 hours of documentaries per year, including commissions and acquisitions.

TVO commissions between 8-10 new point-of-view documentary films every year, more than any other Canadian broadcaster, focusing on point-of-view films that resonate with Canadians and spark interesting discussions and debate. TVO created docstudio.tvo.org to provide a platform for Canadian documentary filmmaking talent, in-development projects, exclusive filmmaker interviews and online mentoring.

The ‘Like the Logo Contest’ will be hosted on Facebook, where colleges and universities across North America can post their campus recycling logo for an opportunity to win $5,000.00 worth of Busch Systems recycling containers. The winning campus recycling logo will be chosen at random from among the three logos with the most votes.

“This is the first contest of this magnitude for Busch Systems”, states Serena Brooks, Sales Manager for Busch Systems. “With budget money being tight, it is a great opportunity for schools to earn free recycling bins. It will also encourage students to get creative in promoting their campus recycling program.”

Recycling on campus is an important initiative and one Busch Systems has supported in the past through various school recycling resources including recycling ‘How to’ guides, campus visits, new product design, customized signage and sponsorships.

“We anticipate a high level of entries as colleges and universities are typically eager to both save money and promote their campus recycling efforts”, states Brooks. “This is the perfect opportunity for schools to accomplish both goals.”

“We have great competition from across the country and a lot of strong contenders, but a few major centres remain unrepresented,” said Andrea Gabor, President of the Canadian Institute of Planners.

“We have candidates from places like Fernie, Lake Koocanusa, Creighton, Warkworth, Lac-Saint-Jean, and Dayspring, and some of them are beating the pants off the larger centres for the honour of being named one of Canada’s greatest places.”

Still absent from the list are nominations from Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec, Hamilton, Oshawa, Victoria, Windsor, Saskatoon, Sherbrooke and St. John’s. “We think residents in these centres, urged on by their local media, will exhibit a sudden burst of civic pride in the final days,” said Gabor.

Nominations close on January 31, 2012, and voting ends February 29, 2012. The judges will then decide on the semi-finalists in early April and announce the winners at the end of April 2012. People’s Choice awards will also be made in each of the three categories.

Below is the list of all the places that are currently in the running. Is your community represented?

The 12 entries that get the most votes on Facebook will make it to the semi-finals and will be shown at the Gallery for a month, before being judged by a jury made up of journalists, artists, and curators. The creators of the three winning entries will receive outstanding prizes, and the grand prize winner will enjoy a behind-the-scenes visit with NGC experts.

“We were very impressed with the quality of the artworks entered last year,” said Gary Goodacre, NGC Manager, Youth and School Programs. “We’re really looking forward to seeing what the participants have in store for us this year.”

The 2012 jury is made up of Ottawa Citizen arts-editor-at-large Peter Simpson, Radio-Canada television arts reporter Claude Deschênes, artist and Nova Scotia College of Art and Design assistant professor Kim Morgan, Vancouver and Montreal interdisciplinary artist Sonny Assu and Iqaluit illustrator and graphic designer Jonathan Cruz.

Young artists can base their work on whatever sparks their imagination. They can also draw inspiration from the NGC’s rich collection, either in person or online. Artworks must be original two dimensional pieces in any medium, and must be accompanied by a short text explaining the story behind the piece. A digital copy of the work must also be submitted, which will be shown on the makeart website, where visitors will be able to vote for their favourite piece(s) through Facebook.

The 12 contestants with the most online votes will be invited to submit their original artwork for entry into the final phase of the contest.

Eligibility – The contest is open to residents of Canada who are aged 16 to 19, as of June 4, 2012

One Contest, Three Phases:

1. Online Submission Phase – The NGC will accept entries from January 25 to March 18, 2012 via the contest website.
2. Online Voting Phase – The NGC will post all accepted entries online at makeart.gallery.ca. During the voting phase of the contest, visitors to the contest website will be able to vote once for every artwork that appeals to them by using the Facebook “Like” feature. The voting phase takes place from March 26 to April 30, 2012.
3. Public Display and Jury Selection Phase – The NGC will invite the top 12 contestants with the most online votes to submit their original artwork for display on its Artissimo Gallery wall, located in the concourse. The works will be on view from June 2 to July 3, 2012. During the display phase, a jury appointed by the NGC will evaluate the artworks based on: the clarity of the theme and message; originality and imaginativeness; and the thought and feeling provoked in the viewer.

The jurors will choose three finalists who will be awarded exciting prizes as outlined below. The NGC will announce the winners during the week of June 4, 2012.

First Prize – includes travel, accommodation and meals for a two-night stay in Ottawa for the winner and one accompanying adult as well as an exclusive behind-the-scenes visit of the NGC that will focus on careers in the visual arts. The winner will also gain expert advice on his or her art portfolio and receive a $500 gift certificate for art supplies. The first-place winner will also receive a reproduction of their work on canvas graciously provided by CanvasPop. (Note: If the winner lives within a 100 km radius from downtown Ottawa, a $1,000 gift certificate for art supplies will be awarded instead of the travel portion of the prize.) Total maximum value: $3,500.

Second Prize – A $1,000 gift certificate for art supplies.
Third Prize – A $500 gift certificate for art supplies.
Top 12 finalists – The top 12 finalists will receive a voucher, graciously provided by CanvasPop, to have their images printed on canvas.

Official Rules – Visit makeart.gallery.ca for the contest’s full official rules.

“At TELUS, we believe technology can be a powerful tool to help everyone who wants to take charge of their health and adopt a healthy lifestyle,” said Paul Lepage, senior vice-president, TELUS Health Solutions. “Studies show that the use of mobility significantly increases the success rates of participants wishing to improve their lifestyle. With the Help me Quit! and 30mobile applications, participants can take action to improve their lifestyles while enjoying all the benefits of mobility. This is one more step in our journey to help modernize health care in Canada through innovative technologies.”

Participants of the Quit to Win! Challenge and anyone who downloads the Help me Quit! application can create a group of supporters who can then cheer them on through the process. Participants can also share their victories and their struggles with supporters who in turn can send messages congratulating and encouraging them.

The 30mobile application for the 5?30 Health and Wellness Challenge tracks the physical activity of participants to evaluate and assess the results of their efforts. Whether as part of sports or daily activities, the integrated pedometer can calculate the number of calories burned, the distance and duration of the activity. Starting March 1^st and continuing throughout the 5?30 Health and Wellness Challenge participants will also receive daily messages of encouragement to help them stay focused on their resolution and achieve their health goals.

“At ACTI-MENU, we believe that every person can have a significant influence on their health and quality of life by adopting preventive behaviors and making good choices in terms of their lifestyle,” says Dr. Louis Gagnon, co-president of ACTI-MENU. “We are thrilled about our partnership with TELUS, a company that shares this vision. These two new applications are additional tools that will help Canadians take charge of their health.”

As a dominant #1 brand in the TV market, Samsung continues to push boundaries with its new SMART Interaction technology, an intuitive platform that uses Motion Control, Voice Control and Face Recognition commands to control the TV and other connected devices.

“Samsung Smart TVs are redefining how consumers interact and manage their home entertainment experience,” said James Politeski, President Sales and Marketing, Samsung Electronics Canada.”Our passion for combining the best of technology with cutting edge design has resonated incredibly well with customers in Canada and we look forward to reaching even more families in the coming year.”

Those who enter the CityLine contest are eligible to win Samsung’s flagship Smart TV, UN55ES8000, which was recently unveiled at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas and winner of a CES 2012 Innovations Design and Engineering Award. This TV’s exquisite design, and superior picture performance features Samsung’s SMART HUB which allows you to wirelessly access and download endless offerings of Movies, TV Shows, Music, Sports and information through the Samsung TV App store.

The contest can be entered by visiting the CityLine website. The winner will be selected by random draw on the CityLine show after the contest closes.

Sponsored by Windward, the champion in easy-to-use reporting, document generation and business intelligence software, the code war is a competition among teams to see who can write the best code. Students race against the clock and each other to analyze a problem, write a solution, test and debug it. After the 8-hour programming deadline, teams go head to head.

“The future of technology is primarily software, and these students are some of the most brilliant programmers in the world,” Dave Thielen, founder and CTO says. “Spending a Saturday writing code for no reason other than the challenge demonstrates they have the curiosity and initiative required to create brilliant new products no one has thought of yet.”

In the contest, Thielen creates a game for which each team writes an A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) player. Each school will have its own playoff, with the A.I.s written by that school’s teams doing their best to kill one another off. The top two teams from each school then will run against one another in the final games for the national programming championship.

“We figured this would be a fun contest between the top schools where the competition could be over programming instead of sports,” Thielen said. “Events like this add significantly to the college experience by reinforcing a joy of learning purely for the sake of increased knowledge and providing a more diverse educational experience.”

The competition follows on the heels of the successful first ever collegiate code war, which took place at The University of Colorado in Boulder on August 27, 2011.

A panel of judges also awarded honourable mentions to the entries “One Second: A Connor Eberhard Film” (Smithville, Ontario) and “Don’t Become Another Statistic” (Winnipeg, MB) for their exceptional submissions.

Judges found Lefrançois’ 90-second video creative, accurate, and well executed.

The top video was selected from a pool of 10 quality entries by a national judging panel that consisted of Susan Harada, Associate Professor and Supervisor of Graduate Studies (School of Journalism & Communication, Carleton University), Daniel Lapointe, Chief Executive Officer of Katimavik, Constable Hugh Smith, Toronto Police Service, and two CAA representatives. Over 20,000 Canadians voted online to choose the Top Ten from among 64 total entries.

“The director took a very unique approach in terms of storyline. None of us expected that twist in the plot, and found that it really drew the viewer in,” said Harada. “The fact that the messaging focused on prevention made “Prends pas le risque” stand out among a group of high caliber entries.”

This fall, the CAA issued a call to action to youth from coast to coast, asking them to show their friends and family why it’s dangerous to text while driving. CAA research shows texting while driving is the number one road safety concern of Canadians, surpassing even impaired driving, and those most likely to text and drive are youth.

“CAA is committed to combatting texting while driving, and we’re thrilled so many young people contributed to the cause by taking the time to create a video, or watch them and vote,” said Jeff Walker, CAA vice president of public affairs. “We encourage everyone to take a look at these amazing videos and to think about the message.”

As part of its work on the issue, CAA will host an international conference on the issue of distracted driving, focusing primarily on the issue of cell phone use, on March 1, 2012 in Toronto. The one-day conference, co-sponsored by Canada’s Traffic Injury Research Foundation, will bring together leading international and Canadian experts to examine the spectrum of distracted driving issues including legislation and enforcement, in-vehicle technologies, and industry experiences.

Winners will benefit from the support of EQ3 designers and will receive a gift certificate. The selected artwork will be featured on an exclusive product line sold in EQ3 stores across the country. All proceeds will be reinvested in youth initiatives, through FMJF. Deadline to enter is January 10th, 2012.

“Canadian youth are optimistic,” said former governor general Michaëlle Jean. “But they are no less disturbed by injustice, or less alert to the inequalities that affect many young people. Generation Art offers them a platform for expression and dialogue.”

Jean-Daniel Lafond, Co-President and CEO of FMJF concurs: “Generation Art is a tribute to artists who are changing the world. Art, as culture and education, is a peaceful weapon of mass construction, and young people today, in Canada and elsewhere, know its power to bring about change in contemporary societies.”

According to Peter Tielmann, President of EQ3, “The vision of young people united for a better society, reflected in the Generation Art project, is an opportunity for us to sensitize our customers, to deliver a message of hope, and to help create programs for the Michaëlle Jean Foundation destined for underserved youth.”

Please see the Generation Art challenge web site for full contest rules.

Starting Saturday, January 7, aspiring writers and authors can enter the Toronto Star’s 2012 Short Story Contest, one of the largest in North America. The contest, which is now in its 34th year and is open to all Ontario residents aged 16 and older, attracted nearly 2,100 entries last year. Previous winners have come from all parts of the province and from a wide range of personal and work-related backgrounds.

The winner of the contest will receive a grand prize of $5,000 plus the tuition fee for the 30-week creative writing correspondence program at the Humber School for Writers, worth approximately $3,000. In addition, the second-place winner will receive a prize of $2,000 and the third-place winner will receive $1,000. The Humber School for Writers is also a partner in the contest.

For the third consecutive year, the Toronto Public Library is a partner with the Star in presenting the contest. “The library is very pleased to join the Star in encouraging writers of this wonderful literary form. We know there are thousands of stories waiting to be told, and we wish all this year’s entrants the best of luck,” said Jane Pyper, city librarian of the Toronto Public Library.

The judges for the 2012 contest are:

• Jessica Westhead, author of the short story collection And Also Sharks
• Jane Pyper, city librarian of the Toronto Public Library
• Richard Ouzounian, theatre critic for the Toronto Star and author of six books
• Dianne Rinehart, the Star’s books editor

The winners will be announced in April during the library’s Keep Toronto Reading Festival. Their stories will be published in the Toronto Star. Deadline for submitting entries is February 26, 2012. Stories must be written in English and must not exceed 2,500 words. For see the contest page for full complete contest rules.

Last Chance Auditions runs through January 15 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Videos must not exceed two minutes and all music selections must be chosen from the list of pre-cleared songs provided. Canada’s Got Talent premieres March 4 on Citytv.

“This is truly Canada’s competition and through this partnership with Nissan Canada Inc., the doors have been re-opened to Canadians who otherwise might have missed their opportunity to audition,” said Ed Robinson, Executive Producer, Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. “This extra audition phase will allow us to showcase an even larger range of the incredible talent that Canada has to offer while giving fans the opportunity to share in the Canada’s Got Talent experience.”

The Top 20 YouTube auditions will be posted on the website for fans to review, then it’s up to Canada to choose who will be the lucky act fast-tracked to the Canada’s Got Talent semifinals in April. From January 23 through January 30, the public can visit the Canada’s Got Talent web site and cast one vote per day per IP address. The act receiving the most votes will get the chance to make their dreams come true on a live broadcast, competing against other talented semifinalists to thrill the judges, win over the hearts of Canadians across the country, and be the first ever to claim the top spot and prize on Canada’s Got Talent. Other YouTube acts will be considered for the semifinals by the Canada’s Got Talent judges – Martin Short, Measha Brueggergosman and Stephan Moccio – and the show’s producers.

“Canada’s Got Talent is the ultimate forum to shine a spotlight on the great talent this country has to offer,” said Judy Wheeler, Director, Nissan Marketing. “In the spirit of the show, the Last Chance Auditions offer up another occasion for Canadians to achieve their dreams and we at Nissan are proud to help make this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity possible.”

To be eligible to enter Last Chance Auditions, participants must be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada. For a complete list of rules and regulations, visit the Canada’s Got Talent web site. Plus, follow the show on Twitter @CGTCitytv, using the hashtag #lastchanceCGT, and “like” us on Facebook for the latest updates, info and announcements.

Tim Hortons, Nissan Canada Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. are founding partners of Canada’s Got Talent, with multiplatform sponsorship integration and execution across television, online, mobile and on-site presence.

“The Poster Challenge is a wonderful opportunity for our young people to express what Canada means to them and to share their creativity with their peers across the country,” said Minister Moore. “This year, participants are invited to create a poster showing how people from different backgrounds and regions joined forces to fight for Canada during the War of 1812.”

A single finalist from all age categories combined will be chosen in each province and territory. A national winner will then be selected from the 13 provincial and territorial finalists. The winning design will become the official poster of the 2012 Celebrate Canada festivities throughout the country.

From June to September 2012, the artwork of the 13 provincial and territorial finalists will be on display at the Canadian Children’s Museum, which is part of the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec.

Prizes will also be presented to the 52 winners, by age category, by the 2012 Poster Challenge sponsors: the Parks Canada Agency, the Trans Canada Trail, Encounters with Canada, Canada Post, the Royal Canadian Mint, and the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

Entry rules and additional resources can be found on the 2012 Canada Day Poster Challenge website. The deadline for entering the contest is March 9, 2012.

The giveaway is easy to enter by writing a comment on a blog post with the apps the reader would like to buy with the iTunes GC should she win. Optional bonus entries are also available. The giveaway is limited to entrants with a US iTunes account and closes Wednesday, January 11th at 12 A.M. MST. The winner will be announced the following day.

With many homeschooling families receiving iPads and iPod touch devices as gifts over the holiday season and purchasing them for the upcoming new school semester, homeschoolers are eager to learn about the best educational apps available.

“As a homeschooling mom myself, I understand how busy homeschoolers are. The App Store is huge and it can be difficult to find the apps that best meet specific educational goals. Our site is designed to make it simple for home educators to find the apps they need when they need them along with our personal, first-hand experiences using the apps together as a homeschooling family,” shared Jennifer Bogart.

“It’s going to be a new year and a new semester. Families have new devices from holiday gift-gving and are eager to add some new educational apps to their libraries! Many new families have joined us on Facebook this past week, and site traffic has never been higher,” Bogart noted. “I can’t help but feel that same excitement as I look forward to the new educational apps that will be released in 2012.”

The fastest notebook GPU in the world, the GeForce GTX 580M boosts graphics performance and unlocks amazing in-game features with Directx®11 and advanced tessellation. Plus, it’s packed with a SATA 128GB SSD to deliver an amazingly fast and smooth computing experience. Gear up for Battlefield 3 with the new MSI GT783 gaming notebook and dominate the battlefield.

The MSI GT783 Gaming Notebook includes some of the following features (image is an example, product not exactly as shown):

• 17.3″ Non-reflective Full HD Display (1920×1080)
• NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 580M 2GB
• Intel® Core™ i7
• 16GB DDR3-1600 SO-DIMM
• 128GB SSD+750GB HDD (7200RPM)

In addition to the Grand Prize, five First Prize Winners will receive a MSI SteelSeries gaming mouse and ten Second Prize Winners will receive an MSI Tumbler.

This contest is open to residents of the USA and Canada (void where prohibited, such as Quebec), and entrants must be 18 years of age or older. Please read the Contest Rules (PDF) for full contest details for important items, such as Canadians have to answer a skill-testing math question to claim the Grand Prize – just cue up the ominous Imperial March music now, because if I had to answer a 4 part, multiple-digit math equation, I’d be doomed. This is why I do not play math games. Why can’t companies have a spelling test instead?

Anyway – you can enter either via the web or snail mail – should you choose to enter, good luck!

A recent resurgence in mobile bill shock is due in part to roaming overages and an increase in data consumption from new smartphone apps. Some applications continue to run and consume data even when users navigate away. Estimates report that more than 30 million Americans each year are overcharged for cell phone usage.

Anomalous Networks does not want mobile users to be caught in this trap. To encourage mindful mobile usage, the company is giving away a free Apple iPad 2 to the Telicost-Lite user who best encourages others to use its products. By referring friends, users can win an iPad 2 for free while sharing a solution that truly works.

“We want our Telicost-Lite users to give their friends the gift of managed mobile usage this holiday,” said Anomalous Networks CEO Daniel Rudich. “Bill Shock is hitting the masses and Telicost-Lite is a simple, free solution that immediately benefits its users. Preventing bill shock is as easy as checking your usage icon.”

Telicost-Lite is a free smartphone app that gives users instant real-time alerts on their smartphones when they approach their voice, data, and SMS limits and enter into roaming areas, tracking plan usage. Telicost-Lite helps mobile users collect the information they need to change data consumption and avoid excess charges. The free app works with iPhones, Android and Blackberry platforms, and is downloadable at www.anomalousnetworks.com.

To win a free iPad 2 from Anomalous Networks, visit their web site: http://anomalousnetworks.com/win_a_apple_ipad2/. The giveaway ends on January 3, 2012.

Chosen from hundreds of submissions, Microsoft Canada will use Maggie’s hand-drawn holiday image as the company’s 2011 electronic holiday greeting to its employees, technology partners, vendors and more.

Maggie, who has been a member of the Boys and Girls Club since 2007, is an aspiring artist who participates in the Saturday Arts and Children Dance Program.

“My inspiration for the drawing was my family and friends playing outside. I thought of all the activities I did in the winter last year like sledding, making igloos, snowboarding, and making snow angels,” says Maggie. “I am really excited that my picture now gets to be on the Microsoft greeting card.”

As a part of its long-standing commitment to inspire and empower youth creativity, Microsoft Canada is celebrating its 15^th year in partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada and its network of 104 clubs across the country. Together they provide programs in digital media and the arts, as well as digital game development and sports.

“Maggie is so creative, and she has certainly made everyone at Eastview quite proud,” says Pam Jolliffe, President and CEO, Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada. “This contest encourages youth to be creative while developing their technical skills, which will help them in the future as they enter the work world. Microsoft Canada’s ongoing commitment to Boys and Girls Clubs and to encouraging creativity in Canadian youth in general, is an inspiration.”

The annual competition has allowed more than 170,000 young people to dream big.

“We support many unique initiatives with Boys and Girls Clubs, and each year we sort through hundreds of holiday card entries from inspired boys and girls across the country. This competition is a wonderful way to see Microsoft’s partnership with this important organization come to life,” says Michael Eisen, Chief Legal Officer, Microsoft Canada. “Maggie’s artwork truly celebrates what we all love about the holiday season, and we are proud to send this holiday card out to our friends, family, customers, partners and employees across Canada and beyond.”

Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada will also be sending the card out to its contacts.

As the winner of the competition, Maggie will receive a new computer packed with Microsoft software and a colour printer. In addition to Maggie’s prizes and her featured artwork, Microsoft Canada presented the Eastview (Toronto) Boys and Girls Club with $1,000.

As the competition winner, Miller had a choice between a ticket to space or a $100,000 cash prize. He chose the cash, which he will invest to buy a ticket in a few years’ time. Miller is already speaking with a Space Adventures’ representative to plan his future reservations.

“I’m incredibly excited to have won such an amazing competition and I’m accepting the cash prize while maintaining my plan of traveling to space,” said Miller. “With money in the bank, I can make a decision when the time’s right for me or even my son Theo to go to space. Thanks to the DBA in Space campaign, and my supporters, for making the dream possible.”

Brought up in Toronto suburb Mississauga, Miller has been inspired by space for as long as he can remember. Now aged 36 he wants to inspire similar dreams in his young son Theo – and give him playground bragging rights. As he says “nothing is cooler than being an astronaut. Except maybe a spy astronaut.”

The competition saw DBAs compete in two stages. First, they had to answer 14 fiendish online video questions and provide a tiebreaker of what they’d tweet from space. This whittled the field down to 15 finalists who campaigned to win public votes and impress a judging panel. More than 12,000 votes were cast in the public poll.

“Many congratulations to Joe for winning DBA in Space’s out of this world prize,” said Neil Davidson, joint-CEO of Red Gate. “We completely understand his plan of banking the cash and assessing the options out there – after all, one of a DBA’s core skills is having a rock-solid backup strategy in place!”

As the members have discovered, the uniqueness of NextSportStar.com is that the site combines the best of Facebook, Twitter, Craigslist and Kijiji all in one site. So now members can use one site for all their social media.

Members can:

• Upload videos and photos within their personal profiles
• Send messages (of more than 140 characters in length)
• Buy and sell products with each other online

It’s a one stop social network for all their social communications. And people are rapidly adopting the portal everyday as new visitors from all over the world sign-in and make NextSportStar.com their social hub of choice.

NextSportStar.com is committed to continued growth by providing over-and-above value to its members. To attract new members, NextSportStar.com offers prizes to be won by its members. Currently available is a chance to win $50,000 in cash prizes plus a Kawasaki Ninja 250R motorcycle and a Bvlgari Diagono watch worth approximately $4,000.

“The Satyr is a perfect showcase for Mission Against Terror,” said Sam Ho, Director, Wicked Interactive. “Unlike many other custom rigs, the Satyr delivers a superior functionality at an unbeatable price. We know that everyone in the M.A.T. community is going to love playing the game on such cutting-edge hardware.”

“Wicked makes fantastic games,” said Attila Soos, Co-Founder, Primordial Computers. “M.A.T. in particular is a great meat-and-potatoes MMO shooter that is near and dear to our heart. We know that our fans are going to get the ultimate M.A.T. experience on the special limited-edition Satyr. The exclusive content that Wicked has made available is also great stuff.”

How to Get Involved:

* To check out the limited-edition M.A.T. Satyr computer, go to: Primordial Computers and enter the special promotional code PC2011 for 10% off through January 15, 2012.

*  To enter into a drawing to receive exclusive M.A.T content, “like” M.A.T. or Primordial Computers on Facebook.

This year, the mentoring director for Hothouse is Theodore Ushev, whose 2010 film Lipsett Diaries received the Genie Award for Best Animated Short. He’ll be joined by associate producer Jelena Popovic and producer Michael Fukushima, who founded the Hothouse program in 2003 with former Animation Studio executive producer David Verrall.

Called “Sheep Dreams,” this eighth edition of Hothouse is designed for creators who are looking to use emerging tools and technologies, and take maximum advantage of new hardware, software or platforms in their projects. These projects can be anything from a traditionally animated story on an interactive mobile OS, to integrating sensing devices for spatial tracking and gesture/facial/voice recognition, to hacking a meaningful micro-narrative into existing game engines.

The goal is to help emerging artists create their own compelling 60-second experiences, driven by great animation storytelling and shaped by technology.

The Hothouse apprenticeship will take place in Montreal from March 5 to May 25, 2012. The deadline for submissions is Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 5 p.m. Submissions must be e-mailed to hothouse@nfb.ca. The six successful candidates will be notified by Friday, February 3, 2012.

Forty-four short films have been produced through Hothouse over its seven-year history. Hothouse alumni include Patrick Doyon, whose animated short Sunday is currently nominated for an Annie Award by ASIFA-Hollywood, and Howie Shia, whose 2006 film Flutter  received the Open Entries Grand Prize at the Tokyo Anime Awards.

“Now in its fourth year, the Teaching with Technology Contest was created to highlight the innovative ways in which Canadian educators are leveraging technology in the classroom,” said Mary Ann Yule, Vice President and General Manager, CDW Canada. “As winning entries from previous years have shown, IT is extremely influential on education. Through the use of technology, teachers are capturing the attention of tech-savvy students and enabling these young Canadians for future success in our predominantly IT-based world. We’re excited to once again have the opportunity to reward teachers and administrators that are building technology into their lesson plans and curriculum.”

To date, CDW Canada’s Teaching with Technology Contests have awarded more than $69,000 in prizes to Canadian educators and administrators.

“Our paperless classroom is 21st century learning! We use computers to find, analyse, create and distribute information,” said Richmond Hill, Ont. teacher Stephanie Ratti, a grand-prize winner in last year’s contest. “New equipment has helped us extend this paperless classroom from pilot project to a reality for many students in our school. How many more students can we engage through technology? With help from contests like this, the possibilities are endless.”

Teachers and administrators of K-12 are eligible to win prizes in one of four ways:

• Story Contest: Entrants are invited to submit stories between 200-500 words that describe the role technology plays in their schools or classrooms. Two winners will be selected by a panel of expert judges to each receive a CDW Canada gift certificate valued at $5,000, which can be used towards the purchase of CDW Canada Teaching with Technology sponsor products.
• Video Contest: A new component this year invites educators and administrators to enter via the Teaching with Technology Video page. Entrants are asked to submit videos no longer than three minutes in length, demonstrating how they are incorporating technology into their classrooms and the benefits they are seeing as a result. The winner of this contest, selected by a panel of judges, will receive a CDW Canada gift certificate valued at $5,000, which can be used towards the purchase of CDW Canada Teaching with Technology sponsor products.
• Tweet UR Tech Tale Contest Entry: Entrants are asked to tweet entries (with a 140-character limit) describing how technology is used in the classroom. One winner will be selected by a panel of judges to receive a CDW Canada gift certificate valued at $500, which can be used towards the purchase of CDW Canada Teaching with Technology sponsor products.
• Sweepstakes Contest Entry: Featuring two categories — Educators and IT professionals — this contest will result in a total of eight winners who will be drawn at random (five educators and three IT professionals).

Winning educators will each receive a CDW Canada gift certificate valued at $200, which can be used towards the purchase of CDW Teaching with Technology Sponsor products. Winning IT administrators will each receive a CDW Canada gift certificate valued at $1,500, which can be used towards the purchase of CDW Teaching with Technology sponsor products.

The CDW Canada Teaching with Technology Contest continues to receive support from a variety of the company’s technology partners. Sponsors of this year’s contest include premier sponsor HP; gold sponsors Cisco, Epson and Lenovo; silver sponsors InFocus, Logitech, Targus and Xerox; and bronze sponsors Brother, D-Link, Ergotron and Tech Smith.

* The Contest is open to legal residents of (who are currently living in) Canada. Residents of (who are currently living in) Quebec are not eligible to enter the Contest.

Steps to enter:

1. Download or update “A Charlie Brown Christmas”
2. Starting December 13^th, one ornament from the “12 Days of Christmas” song will be revealed each day within the app
3. Find all 12 ornaments for your chance to win an iPad 2 pre-loaded with Loud Crow apps

A Charlie Brown Christmas is currently on sale for $4.99 on iTunes, Android Market, Amazon App Store for Android or Nook and is Rated 4+. The iOS version of the interactive book is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad devices running iOS 3.2.2 or later. Note – as of posting time, the Nook update was not yet live on the Nook store, but according to Loud Crow, it will be available “in short order.” Also – I’m not entirely clear on how you actually enter the contest once all of the ornaments are unlocked – perhaps the app automatically sends a message home to enter the reader – more information will be available on Loud Crow’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

Readers can help Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the entire Peanuts gang as they struggle to find the true meaning of Christmas. Peter Robbins, the original voice of Charlie Brown, narrates the rebirth of the 1965 animated classic as an interactive storybook complete with original dialogue and digitally remastered illustrations, animation, and music optimized for your Apple device.

Play Schroeder’s piano, finger paint with the gang, go carolling with the Peanuts choir, and participate in the Spectacular Super-Colossal Neighborhood Christmas Lights and Display Contest to unlock decorations for your very own Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.

Features:

* Original dialogue from the 1965 animated classic
* Captivating narration by Peter Robbins, the original voice of Charlie Brown
* Charming soundtrack featuring music and sound effects from the original show
* Decorate your own Charlie Brown Christmas Tree
* Participate in the Lights and Display Contest to unlock rewards
* Educational features such as word and note highlighting to help improve reading and musical skills
* Hear individual words spoken with the tap of a finger
* Touch and drag objects to make them “spring” to life or tilt to watch them slide and move
* Objects that literally pop out of the page to delight you and your family
* Bookmark reveals handy “table of contents” to jump to any page in the book

The words or categories for shutterbugs to consider are: Joy, Hope, Solitude, Mystery & Courage. And with major sponsorship from Epson, Elinchrom, G-Technology, Inc., Amplis, Canson, Leica, Moab and Wacom, the prize bounty is considerable.

Prizes will be awarded for the Best Overall Photograph, Best Overall Black & White Photograph as well as a First, Second and Third prize for each of the five categories. Winners will be announced March 5, 2012.

“Virgin Gaming is earning a reputation for hosting the biggest gaming tournaments, but our members have been asking for even larger prize pools. That’s what drove the creation of the EA SPORTS Challenge Series; the idea came from them,” said Rob Segal, CEO of Virgin Gaming. “This is also the perfect opportunity to bring our unique tournament format to the masses, giving gamers the freedom to compete whenever they want, instead of according to a set schedule. Those who make it through the online qualifier phase will then earn a seat to play in the live finals for huge cash prizes and true e-sport star status.”

Players who want to compete in the EA SPORTS Challenge Series can register and participate immediately. The three tournaments will begin with online qualifiers through Virgin Gaming for Madden NFL 12, NHL® 12 and FIFA 12. Players will need to outscore the competition by winning through the online qualifiers in order to secure a seat at the final event to be hosted in New York, April 2012. More about EA SPORTS Challenge Series, the individual tournaments and official rules is available online.

GameStop^®, the official retail partner of the EA SPORTS Challenge Series, will also be awarding 12 seats to play in the live finals via a special tournament open only to GameStop^® PowerUp Rewards™ Pro members. This exclusive tournament runs from January 23 through March 23, 2012 and puts players on the fast track to the live finals event.

Students are invited to compete in 13 categories, including Game Design and Development, as well as Application Development and Mobile Design. For the second consecutive year, the ADAA will also recognize teaching excellence through three categories designed specifically for higher education instructors. Since the ADAA competition began in 2001, nearly 25,000 students from 73 countries have been involved; in 2011, a record 4,600 entries were submitted. Please see the competition web site for complete rules and guidelines.

Free to enter and open to students, faculty and staff of higher education institutions worldwide, the 2012 ADAA will be judged by a panel of international design experts in three independent judging sessions. Submission deadlines are January 27, April 27, and June 22, 2012, giving participants more opportunities and flexibility in submitting their work. Semifinalists will be announced after each judging session, providing participants with early visibility into their competition status. In October, finalists will be invited to attend the ADAA awards ceremony in Los Angeles, Calif., where winners will be announced and awarded Adobe software and cash prizes.

“The Adobe Design Achievement Awards feature work from some of the most innovative students around the world. We’re privileged to provide them with the tools they need to design groundbreaking projects,” said Ann Lewnes, senior vice president of Global Marketing, Adobe. “These emerging young talents demonstrate how digital technology is changing the face of the creative landscape.”

Icograda (International Council of Graphic Design Associations) is partnering with Adobe in producing the ADAA competition for the fourth consecutive year.

“Icograda values the strong relationship that we’ve had with Adobe in the past three years. Our aim for this year is to help Adobe increase awareness of the competition in untapped regions around the world and to increase participation within our extensive education network,” said Leimei Julia Chiu, president of Icograda.

Previous ADAA winners have embarked on successful careers in design and look back at the competition as an integral first step. Taiwan’s Sean Chang, a gifted designer who won an ADAA 2011 award in the Print Communications category, offered the following advice to other students: “Think big and outside the box. Have a positive impact on the world. And make sure that your design tells a story.”

The rewards offered by ProSiebenSat.1 Games will include a fantastic 400,000€ media package for the Grand Prix winner and a media package of 100,000€ for each of the six category winners. The partnership with the IMGA will run for the next three years, until the IMGA’s 10th anniversary in February 2014.

“This is a historic agreement and clearly demonstrates the growing interest in mobile games,” said Maarten Noyons, founder and CEO of the IMGA . ” I am very proud that ProSiebenSat.1 Games has chosen to reach out to game developers through the IMGA. This deal is really good news for the mobile games industry and will consolidate the IMGA’s position as the industry’s most influential competition and Awards.”

The IMGA, currently in their 8th year, are the mobile gaming industry’s leading awards for the best mobile games in the world. Over the past seven years, IMGA juries have reviewed 1,500 games from more than 52 countries.

Entries are open to individuals around the globe, both big and small studios as well as publishers. The competition is open to games made for any mobile handset platform – the deadline for entries is 16 January 2012 – there is no entry fee. The winners will be announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on 1 March 2012.

Categories for this year’s award include:

• Excellence in Game Play
• Best Casual Game
• Best Social Game
• Best Real World Game
• Best Sport Game
• Most Innovative Game

“The mobile market is going to be more and more important for us. Our support accommodate our growth strategy in the mobile sector. We are proud to have the IMGA as a partner,” said Markus Büchtmann, Managing Director ProSiebenSat.1 Games.

Alongside ProSiebenSat.1 Games, the IMGA are pleased to announce the Gold Sponsorship of Tencent (China), one of the largest online companies in the world. Other Gold Sponsors include ARM, who have sponsored the IMGA for the last 4 years, and Euroméditerranée the founding sponsor of the IMGA. KOCCA, the South Korean government agency has signed up for Silver Sponsor this year.

“This is our chance to recognize young students and schools doing their part to make their community a little greener,” said Steve Matyas, president of Staples Canada.

Public school students are asked to write a 300-word essay describing the eco-responsible initiative(s) their school has adopted. Essays will be judged by four industry expert panelists:

• Jed Goldberg from Earth Day Canada
• Scott Alic from Earth Cycle Planning
• Wade Humphries from Direct Energy
• Gordon Harrison from GreenLearning Canada

“This is our chance to really make a difference in the 20 winning schools across Canada by providing them with the latest in computer technology. Hopefully, we are also motivating schools to make eco-responsible changes,” said Matyas.

About the Toshiba P755-0CP 3D Laptop – Lift the lid and raise the bar on what you can do at a desk—or on the go—with the Satellite® P755 laptop. Infused with famous Toshiba quality, value and style, this PC offers plenty of power, plus room to multitask, study and play. Its generous 15.6” diagonal TruBrite® HD display is great for doing more things at once.

The Toshiba P755-0CP 3D Laptop is equipped with Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium and the latest 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM processor (2.2 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) with Intel® Turbo Boost technology, Enhanced Intel® SpeedStep® technology and Intel® Hyper-Threading technology. Add lots of memory – 4GB DDR3 + 2GB DDR3 (1333 MHz)- expandable to 8GB and a 750GB (5400 RPM) Serial-ATA hard disk drive to make this PC a strong all-around performer for students, small-business owners, families and light gamers.

Stay well connected with room to expand and share, thanks to a webcam with Wireless-N, and wide range of ports. And take advantage of Toshiba “Smart” Features to enjoy greater versatility and eco-awareness, too, courtesy of a touch pad with multi-touch control and our power-saving eco Utility™.

Other Key Features Include:

• Toshiba Eco Utility
• Hard Drive Impact Sensor
• USB Sleep n Charge
• Toshiba Sleep and Music
• Toshiba Media Controller
• harman/kardon Speakers
• 3D Display
• 3D Vision Display Glasses (One Pair)

For Full Specs Click Here

This deals feature is aggregated from a wide variety of sources and updated daily, which makes it one of the largest deals database in Canada. This enhanced deals content provides a richer and more engaging shopping experience for savvy consumers who can now save time and money. It also enables Yellow Pages advertisers to leverage their deals and promotions to drive ready-to-buy consumers to their business at no added charge.

To launch this exciting new feature on the Yellow Pages app and illustrate its benefits for consumers, Yellow Pages Group will be running a 30-second Television ad campaign beginning today in the Greater Toronto Area and in English Canada on selected specialty channels. This ad spot will also promote a contest giving deal-loving Canadians the chance to win a daily prize of $1,000 and a grand prize for a trip of a lifetime valued at $5,000.

“With more than three million downloads and counting, our Yellow Pages app is a great illustration of our ongoing digital transformation and of the various ways consumers can look for a business near them,” said Nicolas Gaudreau, Vice-President, Digital & Print Media, Acquisition and Retention of Yellow Pages Group. “Now that our mobile app and Yellow Pages site clearly feature deals related to their search, savvy shoppers will be drawn even more to our Yellow Pages digital tools, since they can benefit from a new and smarter way to shop locally. For businesses, this will give them additional opportunities to increase their visibility and attract potential customers”.

The upgraded Yellow Pages mobile app leverages location-based technology to display all of the deals close to one’s current GPS location so that consumers can access deals anytime and anywhere, directly on their mobile device. Consumers can then simply search as usual and watch for the “Deals” icon to appear.

The launch of the deals feature for the Yellow Pages mobile app complements other mobile applications within the Yellow Pages Group network, which are a major driving force of the Company’s ongoing digital transformation and account for 30 per cent of all digital searches.

Yellow Pages’ deals feature is available in English only, in large urban centres in Canada. It will expand across Canada in 2012. The Yellow Pages mobile app is available on all smartphone platforms.

About the Toshiba P755-0CP 3D Laptop – Lift the lid and raise the bar on what you can do at a desk—or on the go—with the Satellite® P755 laptop. Infused with famous Toshiba quality, value and style, this PC offers plenty of power, plus room to multitask, study and play. Its generous 15.6” diagonal TruBrite® HD display is great for doing more things at once. The Toshiba P755-0CP 3D Laptop is equipped with Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium and the latest 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM processor (2.2 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) with Intel® Turbo Boost technology, Enhanced Intel® SpeedStep® technology and Intel® Hyper-Threading technology. Add lots of memory – 4GB DDR3 + 2GB DDR3 (1333 MHz)- expandable to 8GB and a 750GB (5400 RPM) Serial-ATA hard disk drive to make this PC a strong all-around performer for students, small-business owners, families and light gamers. Stay well connected with room to expand and share, thanks to a webcam with Wireless-N, and wide range of ports. And take advantage of Toshiba “Smart” Features to enjoy greater versatility and eco-awareness, too, courtesy of a touch pad with multi-touch control and our power-saving eco Utility™. Other Key Features Include:

• Toshiba Eco Utility
• Hard Drive Impact Sensor
• USB Sleep n Charge
• Toshiba Sleep and Music
• Toshiba Media Controller
• harman/kardon Speakers
• 3D Display
• 3D Vision Display Glasses (One Pair)

For Full Specs Click Here

Contest Rules: 1. Contestants must be a resident of Canada (excluding Quebec) and over the age of majority in their province or territory of residence at the time of entry. 2. Only one entry per person is allowed. No purchase is necessary to enter or win. 3. The Contest will run from 12:01am PST on November 21, 2011 until 11:59pm PST on November 25, 2011. 4. All questions must be answered correctly in order to assigned an official entry number. The official entry number will be used in a random computerized blind draw to determine the prize winner. Chances of winning are dependent on the total number of entries received. 5. The Contest sponsor is Toshiba Canada. As Sponsor, Toshiba Canada will award one Toshiba P750 3D laptop (PSAY3C-0CP010) valued at $1149.00, included in-box accessories to the Contest winner. 6. Toshiba Canada will ship the Toshiba P750 3D laptop (PSAY3C-0CP010) to the prize winner as well as honour all warranties applicable to the Prize in Canada. 7. Employees of Village Gamer (excluding guest contributors) and employees of Toshiba Canada are excluded from entering this Contest. 8. The Contest winner will be announced at 9:00am on November 26, 2011 at which time the winner’s contact information will be forwarded to Toshiba Canada for prize delivery. 9. Village Gamer and Toshiba Canada reserve the right to use the prize winner’s name, resident city and image in publicity materials announcing the Contest winner worldwide without any further compensation to the Contest winner on the part of either Village Gamer or Toshiba Canada. 10. By participating in the Contest, entrants agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of Village Gamer and Toshiba Canada, which are final and binding in all respects. No cash or other substitution or transfer of the prize is permitted. 11. Return of any prize notification as non-deliverable or failure to comply with the Contest Rules will result in disqualification, and an alternate entrant may be randomly selected in accordance with the Contest Rules. 12. Personal information gathered by Village Gamer and Toshiba Canada will be used solely for the purposes of administering the Contest, contacting the potential winner and as otherwise permitted or required by law. Please refer to Village Gamer’s Privacy Policy for more information.

From the Reel Challenge web site: Canada has a world-class motion picture and television industry and you’re closer to it than you think.  More than one million Canadians owe their jobs – directly or indirectly – to creative industries.  Tens of thousands of small businesses all over the country support movie and television production – companies in all kinds of lines of work from drycleaners to caterers, who count the motion picture industry as one of their many clients.  Last year alone, the total volume of film and television production in Canada was more than $4.9 billion and generated more than 117,000 full-time equivalent jobs (FTEs).  When you purchase legitimate content you help support a thriving movie and television industry, which means more jobs, a stronger economy, and a greater array of entertainment choices for everyone.

Filmed entertainment takes enormous amounts of time, investment, and effort to make – and in the age of the internet, no time at all to steal.  The REEL Challenge is your opportunity to help tell the story of a dynamic Canadian production industry that supports the livelihoods of the thousands of artists, creators, and workers – in front of the camera and behind it – who shoot and put together entertainment that will make us cry, laugh, or even see our world differently.

Eligible submissions should be under sixty (60) seconds in length. The contest runs until January 13, 2012. Three prizes will be awarded:

• first place – CDN$10,000
• second place – CDN$3,000
• third place – CDN$2,000

All categories and genres of new short film will be accepted, including drama, comedy, animation, horror, sci-fi, documentary and experimental videos.  Prizes will be awarded to the contestants whose submissions best illustrate the importance of the creative industries at work, and are considered the most compelling, provocative and innovative in content and delivery.

Successful candidates will have used science and/or technology as the basis for developing creative and innovative ideas aimed at solving real-world problems. They will have also put their ideas into action, resulting in a positive impact either in their own community or on a broader scale.

The winning applicant or team will receive a $2,000 prize, travel expenses to attend the award ceremony in Toronto, and an Ontario Science Centre membership. The winner’s work will be featured in a professional animation on display in the Weston Family Innovation Centre at the Science Centre in Toronto, which receives over one million visitors each year. It will also be posted online to inspire other youth to think, work and collaborate in new ways.

“There are Canadian youth who are already on the path to effect positive change in our world through innovative use of science and technology, “said Catherine Paisley, Vice President, Science Education at the Ontario Science Centre. “We want to recognize their efforts through this Award by giving them a platform for sharing their work, inspiring others to make a difference.”

Know someone who might qualify? Please contact us: wyia@OntarioScienceCentre.ca.

The deadline is February 1, 2012. An external jury will make a selection in April 2012 and the winner will be announced on the website by May 31, 2012.

“As the country’s public broadcaster, CBC is committed to connecting people and telling their stories,” said Pia Marquard, Managing Director CBC Quebec. “Our history and traditions are incredibly rich here. I’m looking forward to seeing the videos these students produce.”

Co-sponsored by the English-Language Arts Network (ELAN), the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network (QAHN), and the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) the My Quebec Roots video contest is designed to highlight the vibrant stories of English-speaking Quebec. Videos can tell the stories of their communities through pictures, sound and spoken word, exploring their past through the traditions of oral history and recording the stories of their community and family elders.

“Through this contest we want students to discover family and community traditions that were passed down from previous generations and to get to know the history of their English-speaking communities,” said QCGN President Noel Burke. “We want our youth to be aware of, and to be proud of, their cultural heritage and identity.”

Heritage network president Kevin O’Donnell said the video contest will encourage young Quebecers to get in touch with their roots and share the unique stories of their families and communities. The result will be a treasure trove of stories about Quebec’s English-speaking communities.

“What a great opportunity for students to become engaged in the arts while discovering and sharing the stories of English-speaking Quebec,” added Charles Childs, President of the English-Language Arts Network.

Starting January 2012, students between 13-18 years of age can upload their 2-3 minute videos. Students can use cell phones and digital cameras to create their videos. Videos can be unedited or edited. The top 10 videos will be selected by the public which will be able to vote on CBC’s website. The finalists will be judged by a panel that will include a CBC journalist, a filmmaker member of the English-Language Arts Network and an historian from the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network which will select the three top winners.

• First Prize – an IPAD 2 16 GB
• Second Prize – an IPOD 8GB
• Third Prize – a $50 gift certificate to the CBC Shop

The winners will also be profiled online on the websites of CBC Montreal and QCGN.

The videos, which must be the original work of the contestant, will be judged overall impact, creativity and originality, content, and technical skills. To be valid, all entry forms and videos must be received by Monday, April 30, 2012. Full contest rules are available online.

“The Quebec English School Board Association is really pleased to act as a sponsor for this CBC-QCGN initiative,” commented QESBA president David D’Aoust. “It strikes me as a great marriage between today’s technologies, so popular with our students, and the pressing need to give them opportunities to connect with who they are and where they come from.”

Contest Phase 2 – We will then select and ask those who created attention grabbing posts to then create a brief video that embodies their post. The videos will be reviewed and the top 5 will be flown to Toronto to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges.

Contest Phase 3 – The finalists’ videos will be judged by the community and a panel of industry experts and a winner will be selected. That winner will receive a Nissan vehicle of their choice (not including the GT-R or NV) and have their idea brought to life in a Nissan commercial.

This is the perfect opportunity to bring your vision of the perfect vehicle to life. The possibilities are relatively endless, though with the cold Canadian climate you may have to wait on creating Nissan’s first aquatic vehicle.

Contest Legal Stuff:

Luckily, according to the Geneva Convention rules that regulate Evil Scientists, Dr. Edwin Quark is obligated to provide clues that will help World Book friends find the Building Blocks characters. Dr. Quark will regularly post clues on both World Book’s web site and World Book’s Facebook Page. Visitors who help World Book find the characters will automatically be entered into a sweepstakes for World Book product and other prizes.

“I’m pleased to announced that World Book has created its first graphic nonfiction series, Building Blocks of Science,” said Don Keller, President of World Book. “Our mission with this interactive sweepstakes is to introduce Building Blocks of Science in a manner that is just as fun and engaging as the series itself.”

“I have kidnapped the Building Blocks of Science in order to become ruler of this planet!” exclaimed Dr. Edwin Quark, Evil Scientist. “Let’s just see how well you function without the most powerful forces in nature! The only thing that can stop me is if you figure out where I’ve stashed them. But you inferior creatures are no match for my superior mind!”

Every weekday—from Monday, Nov. 14 thru Friday, Dec. 9—the evil Dr. Edwin Quark will post a clue that will help World Book friends find a missing Building Blocks of Science character. Any visitor who enters a guess on World Book’s web site or World Book’s Facebook Page will automatically be entered into a sweepstakes for weekly prizes.

Every Friday during the sweepstakes, grateful Building Blocks of Science characters will randomly select winners from the pool of people who entered answers to Dr. Edwin Quark’s clues. Winners will be sent a ball cap featuring the entire Building Blocks of Science gang. A final grand-prize drawing for a set of Building Blocks of Science will be held when all characters have been located and safely returned to World Book. The cast of Building Blocks of Science characters includes Gravity; Magnetism; Matter; Energy; Light; Sound; Electricity; Force and Motion; and Heat.

Each character’s clue page also contains important information about the properties of the science topic represented by the character. As a result, the daily clues also provide a fun learning experience on complex science concepts.

Building Blocks of Science is World Book’s first graphic nonfiction series. Each of the 10 volumes in the series features a whimsical character to guide the reader through a physical science topic. It features volumes on Gravity; Magnetism; Matter; Energy; Light; Sound; Electricity; Force and Motion; and Heat.

The volumes in this educational series feature highly original and humorous comic-style art to draw children into the material. The volumes include all the wonderful features that are typically found in World Book products, including a table of contents, glossary, additional resource list, and an index.

Building Blocks of Science is available at pre-pub savings thru Dec. 9, 2011. For more information, visit World Book. Schools and library customers can contact their World Book representative at 800-975-3250 (U.S.) or 800-837-5365 (Canada).

The contest opened for submissions on November 7th and will run until November 28th at 3:00p.m. EST. Once the Submissions are closed, voting for the entries will run from 3:00p.m. on December 5th until 3:00p.m. on December 19th. The Top Three winners will be announced at 3:00p.m. on December 21st.

PRIZES:

There will be three Technology prize packs available to be won.

• The first prize pack (The Mobile Office Pack) consists of one (1) Ultrabook Z830; approximate retail value of $1,100, (1) Microsoft® Office Professional 2010 ; approximate retail value $600.
•  The second prize pack (The Extreme Laptop Pack) consists of one (1) Qosmio F750; approximate retail value $1,799; one (1) Microsoft Sidewinder Gaming Mouse (X3); approximate retail value $99.
• The third prize pack (The 3D Entertainment  Pack) consists of one (1) Toshiba 55”  Passive 3D HD TV; approximate retail value $1,799 and one (1) Toshiba 3D Blu-ray® Player approximate retail value $169.99.

There will also be three (3) Toshiba Tablet prizes; approximate retail value $379, available to entrants whose nominees are selected as the top three winners. Check the Toshiba Canada Facebook page for more details.

“The increase in prize monies reinforces our ongoing commitment to encouraging and celebrating excellence in public policy writing by Canadians, on topics of great importance to Canadians,” said Gotlieb. “The Donner Canadian Foundation has put the call out to publishers to send us this year’s best public policy books by Canadian writers.”

The Donner Canadian Foundation, one of Canada’s largest foundations, created the prize to encourage increased research on public policy in Canada and to promote the discussion of policy issues in the public arena.  In giving this annual award, the Foundation seeks not only to broaden policy debate, but also increase general awareness of the importance of policy discourse. The 2010 prize went to Doug Saunders for Arrival City. “Winning the Donner Prize was a huge honour for Arrival City, but even more than that, the recognition and attention that come with the prize have given the book a new life and a far larger audience,” said Saunders.

Books submitted for the prize should focus on public policy issues – be they regional, national, or international – that have clear implications and relevance for Canada, for example: regulatory and legal reform, public finance, the environment, urban affairs, health care, and education reform. Submissions must be written by Canadian citizens, but they may be published by non-Canadian publishing houses, so long as the books have implications for Canada. For the 2011 prize, books that are written by Canadians in either English or French, between January 1, and December 31, 2011, are eligible.  See Donner Book Prize for complete rules regarding eligibility and submission procedures.

Mr. Gotlieb also announced this year’s prize Jury. “It is my pleasure to announce that the Honourable Anne McLellan will return as this year’s Jury chair.” McLellan joined Bennett Jones LLP after a distinguished career in federal politics, where she served four terms as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Edmonton Centre from 1993-2006.  She is former Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Minister of Health, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and Minister of Natural Resources and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians.

Also returning to the jury are Marcel Boyer, Emeritus Professor of Economics at the Université de Montréal; Wendy Dobson, Professor and Co-director of the Institute for International Business in the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management; Kevin Lynch, Vice-Chair, BMO Financial Group; and Denis Stairs, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Dalhousie University.

The $35,000 Donner Prize for 2010 was awarded to Arrival City: The Final Migration and Our Next World by Doug Saunders (Knopf Canada).  The $5,000 shortlisted titles were: Perverse Cities: Hidden Subsidies, Wonky Policy and Urban Sprawl by Pamela Blais (UBC Press), Beyond The Indian Act: Restoring Aboriginal Property Rights by Tom Flanagan, Christopher Alcantara and André Le Dressay, with forward by C.T. (Manny) Jules (McGill-Queen’s University Press), Le Chum: Une Tragedie Quebecoise by Robert Lacroix and Louis Maheu (Les Éditions du Boréal), and Oka: A Political Crisis and Its Legacy by Harry Swain (Douglas & McIntyre).

The deadline for submissions for this year’s prize is November 30. The shortlist will be announced in late March 2012, and the winner will be proclaimed at a gala dinner in Toronto in May 2012.

Montreal team “Drop Table”, who created the game “Trace Racer” took home the top prize of $25,000 and four Unity Pro 3.x licenses. Game Trace Racer is a Windows Phone 7 racing game where the player uses their finger to trace terrain on their device’s touch screen. The “Drop Table” team hail from Concordia University, and all but Mr. Dinulescu, who studies computer science, are in their first year of software engineering. Team members were Alexander Coco, Dragos Dinulescu, Thomas Rahn and David Siekut.

Presented by XMG Studio and the National Post, the Great Canadian Appathon2 also awarded $10,000 to second place team “Resistor 5” for their game “Ludicrous Archery”, an archery game also for Windows Phone 7 platform that is apparently ‘ludicrous.’ Team members Mike Darwish, Mike Hoffman and Stephane Beniak are all in their fourth year of engineering at McGill University.

A further roster of 10 teams were each awarded $1,000 for a variety of category prizes including “Best Windows Phone 7 Game” sponsored by Microsoft, “Best Technical Game Play” sponsored by Telus and “Best Power & Performance Game” sponsored by NOS Energy Drinks.

The winning games were evaluated on criteria such as the degree of innovation, the fun and entertainment factor, the level of art and design polish, as well as stability. The game design theme for this competition was sports.

At the final round last week, each of the top three teams presented their game to the judging panel before a live audience. After conferring, the judges announced the winners and awarded the $50,000 in cash and prizes.

The game development team from XMG Studio will work with all of the finalists to polish their games and publish them in the appropriate App Store. The four team members of “Drop Table” will also be invited for job interviews at the XMG office in Toronto.

At the Grand Finale sponsored by KMPG, the top three teams will play their game live in front of a panel of judges. They will be competing for bragging rights, Great Canadian Appathon² supremacy and a chance to win the $25,000 grand prize. The Event will take place this evening at Toronto’s Real Sports Bar & Grill from 7:00pm – 11:00pm. Please contact Lydia Schaele (lschaele [at] xmgstudio.com or 289-314-1985) to arrange access.

The judges had a very difficult task narrowing down the finalists from the initial list of 88 submissions to twenty-five quarter-finalists and then to ten semi-finalists, until the naming of the final three who will compete tonight.

More than 4,800 elementary students from Vancouver to St. John’s entered the contest. The Top 10 Finalists hail from:

• École Riverdale Elementary, Surrey
• École Bois-Joli, Dartmouth
• Chief Julius School, Fort McPherson
• Chaparral School, Calgary
• Bishop EQ Jennings School, Thunder Bay
• École Sun Valley School, Winnipeg
• Edgewater Elementary School, Pincourt
• St. Mildred’s-Lightbourn School, Oakville
• Greenwood Public School, Sault Saint Marie
• Hummingbird Montesorri School, Creemore

“From snowcapped mountains and majestic glaciers to towering ancient trees and wildlife, we are amazed by the unique and creative ways elementary school children illustrated their favourite part of nature,” says Mary Desjardins, Executive Director, TD Friends of the Environment Foundation (TD FEF).  “I encourage Canadians to go online and view the extraordinary artwork submitted by these talented students and vote for their top pick.”

The winning student will see their drawing featured on a limited-edition TD FEF reusable shopping bag and their school will receive a $7,500 grant to support environmental initiatives. The winning student will also receive a digital camera and a litterless lunchbox goes to each student in their class. The nine secondary winners will each receive $25 cash and a litterless lunch box and a $500 environmental grant goes to their schools,. The drawings may also be featured in the 2012-2013 edition of Earth Day Canada’s EcoKids Calendar.

“The passion that Canada’s young people have for the environment is strongly represented by the fabulous artwork submitted as part of this contest,” says Jed Goldberg, President, Earth Day Canada. “It is reassuring to see that this generation considers the health of the environment to be such a major priority.”

“Intertainment is very pleased to be partnering with Dx3 Canada to help bring focus to the incredible technology talent that exists in this country and Canada’s outstanding reputation as a global hub for innovation,” said David Lucatch, CEO of Intertainment Media. “Intertainment Media is committed to finding, fostering and delivering leading edge technology to the Canadian and global media landscape and this opportunity was a natural fit with our mandate.”

The “pitch-off” will happen over the course of the two days of Dx3 Canada, with the winner being announced on the final day of the show.

“This partnership with Intertainment Media really solidifies our goal of showcasing Canada’s technology and innovation. Supporting this growing innovation and start-up sector that contributes to Canada’s future economic growth is made possible by the generous program offered by Intertainment Media” said Duncan Payne, Show Director of Dx3 Canada.