Corus Entertainment and marblemedia have handed $20,000 and the first Innovative Storytellers Award to Afzal Huda, a graduate student at Ryerson University in Toronto.

Huda receives a $20,000 grant towards his master of arts in media production program, and a series of one-on-one sessions with execs from Corus and Toronto production house marblemedia. The award goes to outstanding Ryerson grad students whose theses explore the connection between content, new tech and audiences.

‘Afzal has a great vision of Canadian culture and the impact new media will have on it,’ said Mark Bishop and Matt Hornburg, marblemedia partners and Ryerson alumni, in a release. ‘We are proud to honour him with this grant and to help mentor him in his career.’

Huda has worked on the Emmy-nominated Into the West, produced by Steven Spielberg. He also wrote, produced and directed Call Me a Paki, an National Film Board-supported short that played on CBC and on the festival circuit.

From Kidscreen Daily