Canadian Screen Awards / Juno Awards

ON SCREEN:

THE 2014 CANADIAN SCREEN AWARDS
CBC - Sunday, March 9 
THE 2014 JUNO AWARDS 
CTV - Sunday, March 30


Move Over, Oscar!

Canada Gets Set To Roll Out Red Carpets 
For The Junos And The "Screenies"

By Eric Kohanik

Down in Hollywood, the Oscars will get the usual lion's share of attention when they hit the tube on March 2. North of the border, though, the lights are shining on two Canadian spectacles striving to stake out their own claims on the airwaves.

The 2014 Canadian Screen Awards return to CBC on March 9. Nestled inside Toronto's Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, the awards are still in their relative infancy, this being only their second foray into the densely populated arena of televised award shows.

Already nicknamed the “Screenies” around Canadian industry circles, the Canadian Screen Awards were born last year, after the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television merged its existing prizes for Canadian movies (the Genie Awards, launched in 1980) with the accolades handed out for English-language Canadian television (the Gemini Awards, launched in 1986). The merger was accentuated by the launch of Canadian Screen Week, an annual celebration leading up to the award show.

Veteran actor/comedian Martin Short is back to host the CSAs again this year, thanks in part to his energy-filled turn at the helm of last year's inaugural broadcast.

The 2014 Juno Awards are set to grab their own chunk of the Canadian TV spotlight. This year's awards return to CTV on March 30. This time around, the setting is Winnipeg.

Juno Week celebrations will include another Juno Cup celebrity-hockey game, a two-day JunoFest music showcase and several other attractions. Capping off the week, of course, is the award ceremony at Winnipeg's MTS Centre.

In addition to saluting the year's top Canadian music achievements, the show will pay tribute to this year's Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees: Blair Thornton, Fred Turner, Randy Bachman and Robin Bachman, better known for many years as Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

While the Junos and the “Screenies” likely won't come close to the glitz and worldwide attention of Hollywood's biggest night of the year, that doesn't matter. Canadian viewers can expect both award shows to pack a unique punch of their own. 

The 2014 Canadian Screen Awards – CBC – March 9

The 2014 Juno Awards – CTV – March 30

(First published in Channel Guide Magazine - March 2014.)