The Canadian Screen Awards is the first celebration of combining the former Geminis and Genies. The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television awards excellence in film, television and digital media productions. As a way of getting the general public interested in the first annual event, the academy organized a meet and greet with the stars, a glimpse into the rehearsal, and 400 tickets to see the ceremony.
A thousand tickets were distributed for the 400 available seats and fans were asked to wait outside the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts until the pre-show began. One woman drove up from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in hopes of seeing Erica Durance receive an award for Best Actress. Other eager fans of all ages began waiting two hours in advance to catch a glimpse of Jay Baruchel, Allan Hawco and our own George Stroumboulopoulos.
George was nominated for The Shaw Media Award for Best Host in a Variety, Lifestyle, Reality/Competition, Performing Arts or Talk Program or Series. His fellow nominees were Cheryl Hickey for her segment Conversations: Michael Buble on ET Canada, William Shatner for hosting The Juno Awards 2012, Les Stroud's segment Tiburon Island Desert on Survivorman 10 Days, Martin Short for hosting Long Story Short: CBC Turns 75. George's nomination was for his segment with John Irving and Regis Philbin, and the Haiti Special.
As we streamed into the theatre and took our seats, I could see many heads turn towards the first row second seat to the right. We recognized the familiar fade, black suit, relaxed poise and warm smile. There is something about George's presence that commands attention. While other people sit straight or slouched in their seats, he leans forward toward the stage. Other times he tilts his head to talk to a woman on his right. All the while he seems to live right in the moment. There was a sense from his demeanour that this gathering was simply a gathering amongst friends and not really a competition at all.
The host for the evening's broadcast, Martin Short, made a few quips about George. One was in regards to George loosing the Host award, George screaming out his own name during sex, and George's last name doesn't rhyme with anything. George seemed to like the jokes and even gave a fist bump to a camera man when the crewman went in for a reaction shot.
It soon became apparent who were the fan favourites based on the number of screams and comments coming from the balcony. George clearly was one of the fan favourites to win, but we knew Shatner's name could be read out as well along with the other nominees. Would Martin actually win the host off as he did on George's show just a couple days earlier? We listened carefully to the nominees names and then a loud cheer erupted as George's name was read as the winner.
I wasn't sure if we were allowed to tweet during the broadcast, but I couldn't help send out one tweet to George congratulating him on his Canadian Screen Award. I waited until he finished his acceptance speech and sent it without realizing that segment had not aired yet. On behalf of all of George's fans, I'd like to again, send congratulations to you George. We couldn't be happier for you and more proud of you!
For a listing of all winners, please see here
1 comment:
Bad Ass. Congrats George!
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