Canadian Children's series up for prestigious International award!!

Master Ventriloquist Maralee Dawn and team will receive an award for the 'Maralee Dawn and Friends' Best Children's Series 2008 at the ICVM (International Christian Visual Media) conference, www.icvm.com, in Orlando, Florida on July 12. Maralee Dawn and Friends was filmed in High Definition by the leaders in the industry HDTV based in Calgary Alberta. Doug Munrow, one of the owners of HDTV, was one of the first in Canada to jump on the band wagon filming in HD and is known as a guru in the industry. Maralee Dawn's studio is located in Lethbridge Alberta at the Miracle Channel and the partnership with HDTV and the MC crew and staff was excellent according to Gord Klassen the VP and Jon Koopman who were both a part of the production. Producer Drew Martin, was ecstatic with the results and was the liaison with the AFD, Alberta Film Development, to procure a grant to complete the project.
Credit goes to Christopher Bessett, director extrodinaire from Niagra,Ontario (terrapin-point.com) who was with the production from inception. Barbara Varrin, Edmonton, Alberta, who spent endless hours in Pre production organizing all the diverse elements of the shoot and was able to cram everything into sequence so that we stayed on budget and within our time frame...nothing less than a miracle! Marnie Wooding, writer from Vancouver, BC. Eclipse, the award winning set designers (Vancouver) and the gifted Lois Melnychk (Surrey) who wrote dozens of songs. Hilde Stevens was the children's wrangler (over 500 kids) who orchestrated clusters of kids for in studio recordings pre production. Blue Lion Studios, with Dean Maerz engineer pre mixed all the music and taught the puppets how to sing! Aja Jade Beattie, make up expert, (able to make Maralee look by at least 10 years younger) smile. Susan Llemann was the choreographer and puppet wrangler who practiced her skills, in previous years, in productions with her friends the late Shari Lewis and Lamb Chops. Carol deJong (Langley) the wardrobe expert, seamstress and green screen extra. There were multitudes of guests, too many to name; including the children, Indian Chiefs at Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump, a man who climbed Mt Everest, dancers and a ride in a Hot Air Balloon with Dale Lang (whose son was killed in a High School shooting in Tabor AB). Every show had a segment shot at the Eagles Nest Ranch, in Medicine Hat,(enr.ca) including break dancers, skaters, rock climbing, horses etc. There are exotic and fascinating animals filmed at the Singapore Zoological Society in Singapore and Mountain View Conservation Society, (mtnviewconservaton.org) the dream of rescuing and breeding endangered species, is that of Gordon and Yvonne Blankstein of Langley. A great deal of gratitude to the MDM staff who went over the top volunteering hundreds of hours, Albert Yakielashek, Jeff Coomber and Lorraine Lance. As well as the family and friends who shuttled, fed crew and filled in anywhere and everywhere they were needed!

In Canada... CTS Calgary, Edmonton, and Burlington/Toronto area are pleased to be broadcasting the Maralee Dawn and Friends show on Saturday mornings. The Miracle Channel broadcasts Maralee Dawn and Friends nation wide. The largest markets for the series are in America with broadcasters such as TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network) which is considered the largest broadcaster of Christian programing in the world. Through Smile of a Child Maralee Dawn and Friends is seen via satellite around the globe. Christi Legg, VP of I-life TV boasts that Maralee Dawn and Friends is their flag ship show and is shown daily.
Each show is focused on teaching a leadership quality, such as the value of international friendships, planning ahead and journaling. In fact every show concludes with the puppet characters in their jammies journaling the events and lessons of the day, often ending the show with a blast of humor! Thus the logo; loving, learning and laughing. No wonder the kids assimilate the leadership qualities as naturally as eating ice cream. LOL.