The 23rd annual BC Children’s Hospital Miracle Weekend starts tomorrow with a broadcast on Global TV that will run straight through to Sunday night. This is one of the largest fundraising events of the year for the BC Children’s Hospital and even I was personally invited to take part.

Having a niece and four nephews, and having worked with the Children’s Hospital in the past on several campaigns, this is a cause close to my heart.

Facts about the Hospital:
… it received more than 196,0000 patient visits last year
… an average of 690 sick and injured children receive care every day
… there are more than 100 newly diagnosed cases of childhood cancer in BC each year
… more than 750 youngsters receive active treatment for cancer at the Hospital every year
… it is the only pediatric health centre and teaching hospital in BC
… it is the largest full-service child health centre in Canada
… more than 42,800 children come through the Emergency Room each year
… 67 per cent of patients seen every year at BC Children’s Hospital come from areas outside the City of Vancouver

If you would like to support the BC Children’s Hospital this weekend you can add a Twibbon to your Twitter profile, add a add a Facebook badge to your profile, or share this donation page link any other way online. For a donation phone number, tune into Global BC anytime this weekend after 7:00pm tomorrow.

The 12th annual Leo Awards celebrating achievements in BC film and television will take place tonight and tomorrow at the Westin Bayshore.

I interviewed the President of the Awards, Walter Daroshin for my new weekly events column for TV Week online.

“We suggest that [the industry] just take one little pause for a weekend, once a year, and recognize that we’re actually pretty good at what we do,” said Daroshin. “I think it’s vital to a healthy and artistic community, to recognize and celebrate its own.”

With BC talent receiving recognition internationally, it makes sense to have a celebration of homegrown achievements.

“You see people more and more within this jurisdiction being recognized outside of this jurisdiction,” added Daroshin. “We really feel we represent the community.”

Daroshin made specific note of Monique Prudhomme who was nominated in the Costume Design category at the Academy Awards for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus as well as the folks at Image Engine and District 9 who were up for Best Picture at the Oscars this year.

Ever-evolving with the times, the Leo Awards are sensitive to the hard work of all communities within the industry. As such, they added the Web Series category over the last few years as well as the inaugural award for Stunt Coordination that we’ll see in 2010.

The red carpet event on Saturday will feature some of this year’s presenters and nominees including (but not limited to) Steve Bacic, Michael Eklund, Matt Frewer, Colby Johannson, Erin Karpluk, Kristen Kreuk, Lou Diamond Phillips, Ryan Robbins, and Amanda Tapping.

You can read the rest of the post at TV Week online.

John and I will be covering the red carpet tomorrow night when they do the program and performance awards. Tonight, awards for craft and technical elements will be handed out.

Update Unfortunately John couldn’t make it down to join me on the red carpet so I snapped these myself.

Lou Diamond Phillips, Jodelle Ferland, Steph Song, Ryan Robbins, Warren Christie, Jonathan Silver Scott, Drew Scott, Andrew Jenkins, Calum Worthy, and Agam Darshi.

Recipients of the Leo Award include:

FEATURE LENGTH DRAMA
Best Feature Length Drama
Excited

Best Direction in a Feature Length Drama
Bruce Sweeney (Excited)

Best Costume Design in a Feature Length Drama
Monique Prudhomme (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus)

Best Stunt Coordination in a Feature Length Drama
Marshall Virtue (Alice)

Best Supporting Performance by a Male in a Feature Length Drama
Chad Willett (Cole)

Best Supporting Performance by a Female in a Feature Length Drama
Gabrielle Rose (Excited)

Best Lead Performance by a Male in a Feature Length Drama
Jared Keeso (Keep Your Head Up Kid – The Don Cherry Story)

Best Lead Performance by a Female in a Feature Length Drama
Laara Sadiq (Excited)

DRAMATIC SERIES
Best Dramatic Series
Stargate Universe

Best Direction in a Dramatic Series
Brenton Spencer (Sanctuary – Pavor Nocturnus)

Best Stunt Coordination in a Dramatic Series
Jacob Rupp (Smallville – Rapid)

Best Guest Performance by a Male in a Dramatic Series
Christopher Gauthier (Sanctuary – Hero)

Best Supporting Performance by a Male in a Dramatic Series
Christopher Heyerdahl (Sanctuary – Haunted)

Best Supporting Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series
Julia Benson (Stargate Universe – Pain)

Best Lead Performance by a Male in a Dramatic Series
Robin Dunne (Sanctuary – Pavor Nocturnus)

Best Lead Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series
Erin Karpluk (Being Erica – Being Dr. Tom)

SHORT DRAMA
Best Short Drama
The Gray Matter
The Gray Matter

DOCUMENTARY PROGRAM OR SERIES
Best Feature Length Documentary Program
Facing Ali

Best Short Documentary Program
This Land

Best Documentary Series
Ice Pilots NWT

Best Direction in a Documentary Program or Series
Pete McCormack (Facing Ali)

INFORMATION OR LIFESTYLE SERIES
Best Information or Lifestyle Series
The Nature Of Things

Best Host(s) in an Information or Lifestyle Series
Anna Wallner, Kristina Matisic
Anna & Kristina’s Grocery Bag – Cowboy In The Kitchen

MUSIC, COMEDY, OR VARIETY PROGRAM OR SERIES
Best Music, Comedy, or Variety Program or Series
Wolf Canyon

ANIMATION PROGRAM OR SERIES
Best Animation Program or Series
League Of Super Evil

STUDENT PRODUCTION
Best Student Production
Trolls

Best Youth or Children’s Program or Series
Stormworld

Best Music Video
Road Regrets – Dan Mangan

Best Web Series
The Vetala

In total, Sanctuary had 7 Leo Awards while The Gray Matter also walked away with 7 Leos in the Short Drama category. Alice had 8 awards for everything from Cinematography to Visual Effects, Stargate Universe had 6 Leos, and Wolf Canyon brought home 5. You can view a full list of winners by name or program on the Leo Awards website.

I recently had the chance to chat with Bob Lenarduzzi, President of the Vancouver Whitecaps FC and CBC commentator for the upcoming FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Born and raised in the Vancouver area, Lenarduzzi could easily be referred to as the Wayne Gretzky of Canadian soccer. He was a star of the North American Soccer League, a member of the Canadian nation and Olympic soccer teams, and is a member of the Canadian National Soccer Hall of Fame as well as the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame.

We met out by Empire Field where a temporary stadium is being setup while BC Place undergoes a massive facelift. Once everything is complete, the Whitecaps will move into BC Place for the 2011 season as one of two expansion MLS teams. Lenarduzzi explains all this and more in the following video:

Links:

I have been approached to conduct another book giveaway and this time it’s for a hardcover copy of Overnight Sensations: The Americas from Kiwi Collection.

Based in Vancouver, the Kiwi Collection is a website for booking and browsing hotels that offer a little bit more than the ordinary. Their 2100 hotel listings (in 124 countries) include unique offers, upgrades, VIP treatments, and those added touches that make a getaway special.

I used the system to search for hotels in Vancouver and the listings called up Shangri-La, Pan Pacific, Loden, Opus, Fairmont Pacific Rim, Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, Fairmont Waterfront, Sutton Place and the Wedgewood. One thing that really stuck out for me was the amazing photography — check out the image they have for the Shangri-La Listing here. Photos such as these are featured in the Overnight Sensations book.

Reader review from Amazon: If you like travelling in style and experience the best hotels in the world (or Americas) this is a must have book to show off with on your coffee table in your living room. Not only does it have a cool design but it invites one to travel more and see what is actually out there in the world for the one that likes to spend a few extra $ on staying in nice hotels. Surprisingly, you will find that many hotels in this book do not cost much more than boring hotel chains that has little extra to offer in terms of sensations.

It’s no secret that I love to travel and take photos so I’m happy to do this giveaway. Here’s how to enter to win the book (valued at $99 USD retail):

I will draw the winner at random on June 8th around 10:00am.

Update The winner of the book is marybeth i, thanks to everyone for their interest and for entering the contest.

Disclosure: cmp.ly/0 and I have not read/do not have a copy of the book.

This Sunday join BOB (Building Opportunities With Business) at Hastings Racecourse for a special fundraising event.

BOB is a community economic development organization in the Downtown Eastside. They are a non-profit organization with a goal of supporting local business development and increasing job opportunities for inner-city residents.

Last night at the YWCA Women of Distinction Awards, CEO Shirley Chan was the recipient of the Non-profit & Public Service award for her work with BOB.

At Hastings Park this weekend attendees are encouraged to embrace the traditional racecourse spirit and participate in the fancy hat competition that will be judged by a few local celebrities. There will be a full lunch served and thousands of dollars worth of prizes will be up for grabs. These include items donated by the likes of John Fluevog, the Fairmont Pacific Rim, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Blue Olive Photography, and more.

Proceeds from the event will support the work of BOB and the Fast Track to Employment program. Tickets are $60 (with a tax deductible receipt for $30 that will be given to all ticket purchasers) and can be purchased in person at the BOB office (163 East Pender on weekdays 10:00am – 4:00pm) or purchased online.

You can check out the event listing on Facebook and find BOB on Twitter for more information.