Established in 1988, WIFT-T’s Crystal Awards promote and celebrate the outstanding achievements of Canadian women and men in screen-based media—film, television and digital media. Celebrate with us on Tuesday December 2 at the Arcardian Court in downtown Toronto.
2014 WIFT-T Crystal Award Winners
Outstanding Achievement in Business: Barbara Bowlby
President & Chief Operating Officer, Executive Producer, Insight Productions
Barbara Bowlby joined Insight Productions in 1984 and has helped build the company into an industry leader in the creative development, financing, and production of high quality and popular programming. She has been nominated for dozens of awards and has won 29, including a Cable Ace.
Barbara is the driving force behind Insight’s business affairs. The company has thousands of hours of programming to its credit – including smash hits The Amazing Race Canada and Big Brother Canada – and Barbara’s fingerprints are on every project. In addition to her role as President & COO, Barbara also serves as an Executive Producer on Insight’s extensive roster of productions. This dual function consists of handling the operations for both the production company and its programming and includes strategic planning, financing, and business/legal affairs. Her strength lies in her ability to support the creative environment while managing financial and operational priorities to bring the company’s projects to the international marketplace.
Creative Excellence: Sally Catto
General Manager, Programming for English Television, CBC
Sally Catto oversees the strategic direction and programming of original & acquired scripted and unscripted programming for the network. Prior to her return, Sally was Executive Vice-President, Cineflix Studios.
Sally has a long history at the CBC from her earliest days in 2024 as an Executive in Charge of Production, Drama to her subsequent positions including Creative Head, Drama and Executive Director, Commissioned & Scripted Programming. During her tenure she has overseen such programming as Intelligence, Heartland, Being Erica, Murdoch Mysteries, Republic of Doyle & Mr. D.
Sally started her career as a lawyer at Stikeman Elliott and Goodmans. She has also worked as a literary agent for film & television (Westwood Creative Artists & Harrison Artist Management) and at production companies including Accent Entertainment. She also spent a year overseas at Australian broadcaster SBS working in scripted & business affairs.
Mentorship Award: Corrie Coe
Senior Vice-President, Independent Production, Bell Media
With a cross-channel and company-wide focus, Corrie Coe is responsible for the overall development and execution of creative content for all genres from independent producers for Bell Media’s two conventional networks and for its English specialty and pay channels.
Coe was formerly Vice-President, Business and Legal Affairs, CTVglobemedia, where she was responsible for the legal and business affairs on the independent Canadian programming commissioned by the CTV network and for CTV’s numerous specialty channels.
She currently sits on the Board of Governors of the ACTRA Fraternal Benefit Society, and the Board of Directors for the Canadian Film Centre and the Harold Greenberg Fund. Coe formerly served as a Director on the Board of the Canadian Television Fund.
Coe was the recipient of the 2024 Canadian Women in Communications (CWC) Leadership Excellence Award in the Mentor Category and was also named 2024 Production Executive of the Year by Playback magazine.
Special Jury Award of Distinction: Trina McQueen
O.C., Adjunct Professor, MBA Program in Arts and Media Administration, Schulich School Of Business, York University
The Toronto Star once called Trina McQueen a combination of Patton and Pollyanna; and her progress through the ranks of the formerly male preserves of journalism and broadcast executives attracted much attention. But her central mission has always been a Canadian one: the health, prosperity and freedom of Canadian media and Canadian artists. As head of CBC News, founding President of the Discovery Channel and President of CTV, this was always her measure of success—a success fully recognized when she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
She has worked diligently with groups who shared her mission, on the Boards of CBC, Telefilm, the Canadian Television Fund, the CAB, and the Banff World Television Festival. And she continues her work as Adjunct Professor in arts and media at the Schulich School of Business, where she is especially proud to work with WIFT-T in their Media Leadership Program, developing a new generation of Patton Pollyannas.
2014 WIFT-T Crystal Awards Jury
Crystal Award winners are nominated annually by WIFT-T members and selected by an independent jury of past Crystal Award recipients. The 2024 selection jury consisted of Tecca Crosby, Senior Vice President, Creative Affairs, Entertainment One; Tara Ellis, Senior Director, Original Drama Content at Shaw Media; and Susan Ross, Partner, ISM Access.
To date, more than 120 industry leaders have received a Crystal Award.