Maya Annik Bedward is the recipient of WIFT-T’s 2016 CBC Business of Broadcasting Mentorship.

The five-day mentorship will give Annik Bedward a look at the inner workings of the pubcaster. Annik Bedward will receive one-on-one mentorship with CBC staff, and gain insight into the CBC’s production, branding, acquisition and programming strategies, as well as research and scheduling.

“If we don’t build our young creators and people of the industry, the industry will crumble,” Michelle Daly, senior director, Comedy at CBC, told Playback Daily. “It’s just really important that we provide opportunities to help them learn and grow. I think it’s a responsibility to do that.”

Annik Bedward is a Toronto-based Jamaican-Québécoise filmmaker. Her short film The Foreigner (2014) was released by Third Culture Media, a production company she launched with the support of the Michaëlle Jean Foundation. She recently completed the short documentary A Hidden History: The Story of the New Orleans Tribune with co-writer/director/editor and producer Sean Liliani.

The CBC mentorship is now in its 10th year. Past recipients include Jensenne Roculan, who joined Corner Gas prodco Verite Films in 2016 as a production and business affairs executive, as well as Courtney Graham, who launched production company Glamazon Pictures in 2015 with Melanie Windle. The company recently optioned L.E. Sterling’s literary trilogy True Born to adapt for TV.