2008 International Jury

The Banff World Television Awards' International Jury is comprised of a cross section of highly respected, international television professionals. These five industry leaders faced a daunting challenge - to select from among this year's best programs and select from these top shows the Best Feature Length Documentary, the Best Documentary, the Best Entertainment and the Best Drama Program, and of course our most coveted prize, the best of the Festival - The Grand Prize winner.

We thank our honorable jury members for their dedication and hard work and we would like to especially thank Mr. Colm Feore, the Chair of the International Jury and past winner of the NBC Universal Canada Award of Distinction for his tireless enthusiasm and his learned guidance during the adjudication process.

Colm Feore, International Jury Chair, Actor, Canada

One of the most recognizable faces in Canadian film and television, Colm Feore co-starred in the hit film Bon Cop Bad Cop, one of the highest-grossing Canadian films of all time. Feore's credits include the Academy AwardR-winning film Chicago, which also won the 2003 SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture. His mesmerizing performance in the Genie Award-winning film Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, earned Feore a Genie nomination for his performance, and solidified his status as a rising star in both Canada and internationally. His starring role in Trudeau, won the 2002 Monte Carlo Television Festival Award for 'Best Actor' and the 2002 Gemini Award for 'Best Actor in a Mini-Series'.

Daniele Doglio, Consulting Editor to the Director General of RAI Educational Giovanni Minoli, Italy

Daniele Doglio is Consulting Editor to the director general of RAI Educational Giovanni Minoli on contents acquisition, commissioning and co-productions for daily program series La Storia Siamo Noi (History), children language learning and inter-cultural daily-programs blocks Divertinglese and Divertitaliano, and new media developments.

Daniele held managerial positions in media and content related companies such as RAI, SugarMusicGroup, Polygram plc, Cable&Wireless plc, StreamDigitalTV and for a few years consulted for the EBU Strategic Studies Centre in Geneva.

As a journalist Daniele was correspondent for UK trade magazine TV World and FT newsletter Screen Finance. A member of the International Institute of Communications in London, the Foreign Press Association, the Italian Journalist Association. In 2007, his book "Copyright & Media: A guide to the rights' market" was published.

Daniele teaches media economics and copyright management at one of Milan's Universities and at Lugano's Swiss University.

Cynthia Fennemen, CEO, American Public Television, USA

Cynthia A. Fenneman is CEO of American Public Television, a leading distributor of programs to U.S. public television's 359 stations. Last year, APT delivered 52 of the top 100 highest rated titles on PBS member stations. APT also distributes the Create TV channel, featuring the best of public television's lifestyle programming.

Fenneman has 32 years of commercial, public and network cable television experience and earned more than 30 international, national and regional awards, including 12 regional Emmys and a CableAce.

Her national U.S. television experience includes Major Projects Executive for the launch team at Discovery Health Channel, Special Projects Director for PBS's Local Programming Initiative and Executive Producer of A&E Biography, PBS, Discovery and APT programs.

Fenneman worked at Westinghouse Broadcasting for 10 years: KYW-TV/Philadelphia as EP Programming, Senior Producer for the nightly syndicated PM Magazine and Producer of award-winning news, documentary, live talk, and entertainment programs; KPIX-TV/San Francisco as a producer for the #1 morning show, and WJZ-TV/Baltimore in nightly news. She was also the Director of Broadcasting at New Hampshire Public Television.

Kerry Stauffer, Director, Creative Electronic Environment (CEE), The Banff Centre, CANADA

Kerry Stauffer is the Director, Creative Electronic Environment (CEE) at The Banff Centre. CEE provides creative media solutions and advanced production training in the areas of television and interactive media. Kerry has produced and edited national television specials for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and produced, directed and edited four seasons of the Banff Masters series, an in depth profile of producers, writers, and directors from around the world which was broadcast on BRAVO. Kerry was the Executive Producer for inaugural World Congress of Arts Producers & Performance which brought together leading international art broadcasters, producers, and artists to discuss and showcase current trends in art and performance television.

She also has participated in international exchanges including IBC and IETV, Rio de Janerio where she presented a lecture on cultural diversity on television in Canada. Kerry holds an honours diploma from SAIT (Cinema, Television, Radio and Stage) and is a graduate of Alliance Atlantis Banff Television Executive Program. Recently, Kerry became a member of CRHC National Training Advisory Council for Film and Television.

Rob Thomas, CEO of Creative Business Wales, Welsh Assembly Government, Wales

Rob Thomas has a wealth of experience of content production and sales in the interactive media and music sectors. Between 1997 and 2000 he was Commercial Director of the Productive Play Company which specialized in creating interactive programs for the international market, based on branded TV animation series.

In 2000, he was employed by the newly established Welsh Assembly Government to develop international initiatives for Wales based companies in the film and television production sector.