The Television Bureau of Canada’s annual Bessie Awards ceremony is on track for another celebration of Canadian advertising. Despite the recent assertions by Quebec’s premier that the province is ‘a nation state,’ there is no question Quebec is still a vibrant and creative part of the country and one that is producing exciting advertising.

But why is there only minimal interest generated by the Bessies in the province of Quebec? And why is one of Canada’s foremost commercial production centres invisible at what is billed as a national award ceremony?

The first, and most obvious, factor is language. Vivien El-Dawoud, special events co-ordinator for the TVB, confirms that only English-language entries are accepted.

Of course, as Cinelande producer Frederic Desproges notes, ‘There are a few English guys in Quebec. You can speak English and be a Quebecer too!’ In fact, many spots out of Quebec are produced in both languages. Still, the Bessies competition attracts only a small number of entries from La Belle Province.

‘The reason we [only accept English ads] is because they honor their own in Quebec – with their own awards,’ says El-Dawoud.

Indeed, the Publicite Club de Montreal’s 42nd Les Coqs gala will be held on May 31 at Montreal’s Theatre St. Denis. The commercial competition only accepts submissions in French. Where does that leave English spots from Quebec? Why don’t more Quebec spot producers submit their English-language ads to the Bessies?

Richard Speer, honcho at Montreal’s Jet Films, thinks it might have something to do with the ‘rivalry’ between Toronto and Montreal.

‘We feel it through the agencies,’ he says. ‘We’ve started jobs where Toronto walks in and says, ‘Okay, no, we’re doing it in Toronto. We’re pulling the plug on your stuff.’

‘People are very protective of their market,’ Speer says,

The Jet Films GM also points out that, ‘Les Coqs is an agency party with agency people’ and very different from the production-oriented Bessies. Perhaps this means there is room for Quebec productions at the Bessies. The difficulty, says Speer, lies in the judging. ‘How do you judge two different markets. The humor is so different between English- and French-Canadians.’

Perhaps including judges from Quebec would help alleviate this culture ‘gap.’ However, Voodoo Arts founder Rick Ostiguy, who was invited to judge this year, turned down the honor. ‘I couldn’t make it,’ he says. Ostiguy believes the reason Quebec producers mostly ignore the Bessies is due to the fact that ‘it’s just not marketed here.’

‘I think it’s just a question of visibility,’ he says. ‘People would enter more if they knew about it. I haven’t received any paperwork to submit entries. A lot of international festivals send us a package.’

At Cinelande, executive producer Alex Sliman concurs that he has ‘never seen any hype’ about the Bessies in Montreal.

None of the Quebec producers seemed particularly concerned about their minimal participation at the Bessie Awards. However, all expressed an interest in finding out more about them.

Says Speer: ‘I think people are satisfied with the way it is right now. We’re really out there to give production value to the client, not for the awards. You should get your own rewards for the job you do and the product you put out there.’

No matter what the language. *