Canadians score at IBA

Toronto-based Radke Films and The Partners’ Film Company won hardware at this year’s IBA Awards in Las Vegas.

Radke took home a gold award for the Steve Gordon-directed ‘Early Man’ for the Ontario Chiropractors Association. The spot, out of Manifest Communications, won in the category of live-action, English-language, 30-seconds (produced outside the U.S.).

Partners won two awards for last year’s ‘Condom Country’ ads in the categories of public service and humorous (produced in the U.S.). The spots were directed by 28-year-old Christopher Mills.

‘I’m most excited because it’s one of our young directors,’ says Partners’ president Don McLean. ‘We flew him to Vegas, and apparently at the end of the show a huge group of people came over to congratulate him. They were snapping his picture and asking for his business card.’

Naked was the agency behind ‘Condom Country,’ with Simon Billing the agency producer and Jim Whitney creative director.

Partners’ also received a nod for the Simon Levene-directed ‘Sam’ for Workopolis.Com. The spot won in the cateogry of live-action, English-language, 60-seconds (produced outside the U.S.). Rea Hilts from Ranscombe & Company was agency producer.

‘These were enjoyble projects,’ says Mclean. ‘It’s nice when the good ones come along.’

Advertisers, ACTRA talk

ACTRA entered into talks Jan. 22 with Canadian advertisers to renew their three-year collective National Commercial Agreement. The current agreement between the parties expired Jan. 31, and ACTRA was looking to make a few changes before renewing.

According to ACTRA, executive director Stephen Waddell has been speaking with the Association of Canadian Advertisers and the Institute of Canadian Advertising about shortening the standard workday for commercial actors to eight hours from the current nine hours. Also on the table, improving workplace standards for child actors.

At press time, an ACTRA spokesperson said all involved hoped to have discussions wrapped up by Jan. 31.

Chum wins at New York Festivals

Chum Television was rewarded for its efforts in promoting its channels and programs at the recent New York Festivals for International Television Programming and Promotion.

Chum walked away with three awards from the Jan. 18 ceremony, including a silver world medal in the category of information/magazine promotion and two finalist certificates for station/image promotion and news promotion.

Sextv was awarded a silver world medal in the category of information/magazine promotion. Peter Whittington was creative director, Carolyn Graziani was art director and Wade Sherman of Spy Films produced.

Citytv received a finalist certificate in the category of news promotion for its CityPulse fall campaign. It was produced by Mark Bondur, with Whittington the creative director, and Carolyn Graziani and Alisa Kerr the art directors.

Star! received a finalist certificate in the area of station/image promotion for its ‘Need to Know’ campaign, produced by Scott Greig, who also acted as creative director.