( Added: April 14, 2008 ) - The organizers of the Canadian New Media Awards (CNMA) announced a month-long, Canada-wide "Call For Submissions" beginning today and ending May 5th, 2008. The CNMA promote and celebrate excellence within the digital interactive industry by recognizing the accomplishments and outstanding contributions made by Canadians working in this sector.

New this year, the "Excellence in the Use of Social Media" award has been replaced with two new categories: "Excellence in Social Media Websites" and "Excellence in Social Media Applications".

Individuals, students, and companies across Canada are invited to submit friends, colleagues or themselves and recognize outstanding achievements in the design, development or implementation of new media projects. Last year, hundreds of submissions were received from across Canada due to a widespread and bilingual promotional campaign. This year, submissions will be accepted online at www.cnma.ca from April 7 to May 5, with special discounts granted to those submitted prior to April 21.

The Awards are classified into the following 15 categories:

Product Awards

- Excellence in Gaming
- Excellence in Children's
- Excellence in Learning
- Excellence in News and Information
- Excellence in Culture, Lifestyle and Arts
- Excellence in Cross Platform
- Excellence in Social Media Websites
- Excellence in Social Media Applications

Individual and Company Awards

- Company of the Year
- Most Promising New Company of the Year
- Educator of the Year
- Producer of the Year
- Emerging Innovator of the Year
- Designer of the Year
- Programmer of the Year

The Awards will be presented to winners at a Gala Awards Ceremony in Toronto in October 2008.

For further information, visit www.cnma.ca or www.nextmediaevents.com/mdm