MEDIA RELEASE

www.banffcentre.ca

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday May 29, 2002

Sara Diamond wins Educator of the Year honour at the Canadian New Media Awards The Canadian New Media Awards have named Sara Diamond, Artistic Director of Media & Visual Arts at The Banff Centre, Educator of the Year.

The Awards presented in partnership with the Department of Canadian Heritage, Telefilm Canada, and MultiMediator "recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of individuals and companies in the Canadian new media industry. The Educator of the Year is awarded to the teacher, trainer or administrator who has actively promoted new media in the classroom or in the workplace."

Diamond is internationally respected as a television, new media and visual artist; critic; teacher; and curator. As an artist, she has produced award-winning television, new media and photographic installations and performances. Her work at The Banff Centre includes overseeing the Banff New Media Institute, named by Shift magazine as one of the ten best new media schools in Canada. She says being named Educator of the Year is extremely rewarding, "I am proud that my efforts which are truly those of my talented colleagues and staff at The Banff Centre are honoured by the Canadian new media industry. I continue to learn daily that ingenuity, invention, tenacity, and imagination are the great creative drivers of new media."

Other honours and awards Diamond has earned include an appointment to the Cultural Industries SAGIT and Canada Council Advisory Committee for Media Arts, and winning the Woman of Vision Award from Women in Film and Television and Wired Women. Diamond was nominated for two other CNMA Awards, Industry Promoter of the Year and Lifetime Achievement.

There are over 1, 100 new media companies in Canada creating some of the medium's best interactive CD-ROMs, Web sites and much more. The Banff New Media Institute (BNMI) at The Banff Centre is proud to contribute to the training and professional development of Canada’s new media artists through summits, workshops, co-productions, co-developed programs, and production. The BNMI provides an environment for collaborative research; dialogue and networking; a laboratory for the prototyping, co-production, and research of new media works; and a place for career development and training.

(Visit the Canadian New Media Awards Web site at www.cnma.ca.)

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