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Seth MacFarlane Joins CAEAA Family to Host 2nd Annual Elan Awards

Mon, 2008-01-07 17:19
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VANCOUVER January 7, 2008 - The Producers of the Canadian Awards for the Electronic and Animated Arts (CAEAA) along with their Event Partners Ernst & Young, Electronic Arts (EA), Autodesk, N-GAGE by NOKIA, and the Government of British Columbia are ecstatic to announce Seth MacFarlane as the Host for their 2nd Annual Elan Awards Show on February 15th, 2008 at The Centre in Vancouver for the Performing Arts.

Creator, Executive Producer, and star of one of the most bankable franchises in all of television, FAMILY GUY's Seth MacFarlane reports: "I am extremely excited to be hosting the 2nd Annual Elan Awards. I am, of course, heavily involved in animation, and gaming seems to be the wave of the future. But most of all, I'm excited to purchase inexpensive prescription drugs and smuggle them back into the United States."

"Need we say more?" laughs Holly Carinci, Founder & Producer of the Elan Awards. "It's obvious that he's the perfect Host for our awards show especially given the industries we honour, Animation and Video Gaming, and it's these industries that we owe the idea of inviting Seth to Host ... When asked they came back resoundingly with Mr. MacFarlane as their choice for Host. We're just so happy and not a little relieved that he accepted! It’s not easy finding the right Host for two different industries and we've certainly got that with Seth."

Easily one of the youngest people ever to create a television series, Seth MacFarlane began his career studying animation and design at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he created the animated short film "The Life of Larry," which later became the inspiration for FAMILY GUY. FAMILY GUY was picked up by FOX in 1998, and MacFarlane went on to receive an Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his role as Stewie Griffin (MacFarlane voices the popular characters Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin and Brian Griffin in the series), and the show has garnered two nominations for Outstanding Animated Series. In 2002, he also received an Emmy for Outstanding Music and Lyrics for FAMILY GUY. FAMILY GUY was canceled in 2002, but exceptional ratings on Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" and astonishing DVD sales convinced FOX to make the unprecedented move to return the show to production and their schedule. FAMILY GUY has since established itself as the anchor of FOX's Sunday night lineup and as MacFarlane also serves as co-creator/executive producer/star of the FOX animated series AMERICAN DAD, which is entering its fourth season.

The Elan Awards, which awards the talent behind the burgeoning professional Video Gaming and Animation industries, as well as the raw talent (students) coming from Digital Art Educational Institutions, began in its first year as a Canadian-only Awards show but added International "Best of" categories for all three of these industries for their second production of the show. Participation exploded after only one year into an enormous network of Video Game, Animation and Digital Art Schools worldwide who were eager to participate. "We are quite taken aback by the enthusiasm of so many countries outside of Canada to participate in this show." says Carinci. "We believe that this early World wide Industry participation in the Elans is positive indication of our mandate in establishing Canada as the World centre for Video Gaming and the celebration of Canada's incredible contribution to the world in Animation and the educational Institutions behind the future talent in both phenomenal industries. In short, we are looking to one day soon produce the Oscar-equivalent for both Animation and Video Gaming. Having a host the caliber of Seth MacFarlane and worldwide participation in what is only the second show, the future looks very bright."

The 2nd Annual Elan Awards will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada at The Centre in Vancouver for the Performing Arts and their Official Hotelier The Sutton Place Hotel, Vancouver (one of only two AAA Five Diamond Hotels in all of Canada). Tickets go on sale today. Those wishing to attend the awards should go (quickly!) to www.theelans.com to find out how to purchase their seats.

Backing their efforts are the phenomenal supporters of the Elans which includes Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang LLP, Seven Group, Annex Pro, Foundation 9/Backbone Entertainment, Radical Entertainment, Next Level Games, slant six games, Studio B Productions, Mercury Filmworks, Action Pants, Atomic Robot Games, Blue Castle Games, Voicebox Productions, Western Imperial Magnetics, 90 Degree Software, David Kaye Productions, Raven Tales, Selkirk College, The Art Institute of Vancouver, Emily Carr Institute, Sheridan College, Vancouver Film School, School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SFU), University of Washington Department of Communications, BC Film, Vancouver Economic Development Commission, Tourism Vancouver, BC Innovation Council, as well as Uniglobe Advance Travel, FedEx, Paramount Limousines, Chloe Angus Designs, Moore's Clothing for Men and the Awards Auditing firm, Buckley Dodds & Assoc.s.

"As the Movie Industry goes to Hollywood for its Oscars, so will the world of Video Gaming and Animation come to Canada for their Elans."

- Holly Carinci, Founder & Producer, CAEAA

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The Elan Awards...what a farce!!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 2008-02-16 20:49.

OMG! I’m not sure who planned the event but it was a disaster right from the EA sponsored pre-party. First off, this ‘reception’ prior to the ceremony was held at the Sutton Hotel, which is a main stay for LA talent when filming in Vancouver. However, EA must have been trying to save some money because the space looked like a room that hadn’t seen the light of day since the 70’s and the attention to detail reflected this. Now what about the main event. What an embarrassment for the industry. Seth MacFarlane will NEVER be host again, I’ll lay money on that! Nothing during the ceremony worked on cue — not the lights, not the sound, not the clips…NOTHING! It was humiliating to sit through the event as one disaster followed the next. Presenters confirmed while struggling to read the teleprompter (which seemed too scroll too slow or freeze) that they never had a chance to rehearse and it would seem neither did the directors of the show. Now the CAEAA through their ELAN Awards mean to recognize Canadian talent. Well their were clearly persons nominated that were not Canadians. And the category this occurred in was not a team effort so they couldn’t try and say the Canadians didn’t get a chance to attend or submit their names. (Check out the criteria for nomination and jury — again a real lark). Not even Don Mattrick who won “Lifetime Achievment Award” showed up to collect his prize. They had to send some guy out in a kilt to collect the award and say a few words on Don’s behalf while a slide show played showing the picture of some other guy instead of Mattrick!! Oops! After sitting through laughter, booing and yelling of “turn down the lights!” the ceremony was finally over. So as good gamers do, we sucked it up and headed across the street to the Nokia after-party. Now let me just say this before I go on with my rant. I’ve been to Nokia parties before and those Fin’s know how to PARTY. That said, there is no way they would have ever authorized what followed. No-name wine, draft beer cooled through bright orange cooler containers sitting atop folding tables and the kicker…plastic pint glasses. Can you see it? MacFarlane walking around in his tux holding a plastic glass moving around other tux wearing sod’s fighting for the scraps of hors d’oeuvres that ran out before the night was over. But fear not! The caters ran across the street to 7/11 and brought back large bags of Ruffle chips. Not a word of a lie here folks. CHIPS!! Luckily MacFarlane had left by that point. But the other scores of saps who rented tux’s walked around with plastic glasses full of warm beer and hand fulls of chips and partied like it was 1999. I can’t wait until next year!!