Evaluation Juries

The CMF routinely employs external experts to aid in decision-making for selective programs through an evaluation-based jury process. To provide an external perspective on the application materials submitted, the juries are comprised of working industry professionals who are experts in their field or genre. You can use the filters below to review who has served as a jury member in the past, and on which juries.

Evaluation Process

Following an initial review for eligibility conducted by internal staff, jury members are tasked with scoring each project against a set evaluation criteria. Each program has its own evaluation grid, specific to the needs and objectives of that program, but generally they include:

  • experience of the production or creative teams and their capacity to deliver;
  • an assessment of the creative content and/or innovation in the space;
  • narrative positioning statement;
  • business materials, including viability of the project and financial stability; and
  • a distribution and/or marketing strategy.

The highest scoring projects are compared against the available funding allocation for the program to determine the recipients for that round of funding.

Each jury is populated as appropriate to the program. The CMF strives for a diversity of jurors who are selected based on a number of considerations, including:

  • language;
  • professional specialization and/or experience;
  • demographics such as gender, Indigenous and equity- seeking communities, etc.; and
  • region.
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Annick Dumais
Montréal, Canada

Head of the Level Design program at the ADN CampusCampus ADN (Cégep de Matane et Cégep du Vieux Montréal). In the video game industry since 1997, I decided to reorient my career towards teaching in 2008. Since then, I am responsible for the development of Level Design programs and I teach full time at Campus ADN. My tasks vary from content development, teaching Level Design, Game Design and programming, as well as managing/technical support of our students’ final projects.

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Juries
  • Fiscal 2022 - 2023: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 1
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Elgin-Skye McLaren
Saskatoon, Canada

Elgin-Skye McLaren is an experienced product leader and technologist. She is currently a Senior Product Manager at Mozilla working on Hubs—a platform for creating virtual social spaces in the browser. In this role, she advocates for safe and secure metaverse technologies. Elgin-Skye has a background in creative tech and holds an MSc in Interactive Arts and Technology from Simon Fraser University. Her research centered on games and interfaces that push the boundaries of interactive media. Before entering tech, Elgin-Skye worked in arts and festival management. She previously held roles with Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, the English Language Arts Network and several music and arts festivals. Elgin-Skye has lived across Canada. She is currently based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

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Juries
  • Fiscal 2023 - 2024: Commercial Projects Program - Round 2
  • Fiscal 2022 - 2023: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 1
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Karen Poulin
Québec, Canada

Graduated with a bachelor's degree in Graphic Communication from Laval University in 2003, Karen works in the field of video games, where the creation of experience is strongly combined with the emotion of the player. For her, the experience isn't just about what's on the screen: the user is the creative initiator. In almost 15 years, Karen has worn many hats. Going from game designer to project manager, she has evolved as much in more technical mandates as in mentoring. She now applies her knowledge to the development of software products, where artificial intelligence and data management allow companies to offer highly personalized experiences to their customers.

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Juries
  • Fiscal 2022 - 2023: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 2
  • Fiscal 2021 - 2022: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 2
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Laurent Guérin
Toronto, Canada

Laurent Guérin is a digital transformation expert specializing in content creation, development and distribution strategies. He is currently Vice President of Digital Content at Postmedia Network Inc. Prior to his current post, Guérin was one of the visionaries to whom we owe TFO’s success in the digital realm. He was successively Chief Content Officer and Vice President, Chief Content and Digital Officer. His judicious strategic direction, innovative choices and leadership were essential to giving TFO a new look. Guérin is a well-known figure on both sides of the Atlantic for his enthusiasm for digital content and platforms, and his ability to make bold creative contributions. In 2016, he was one of the Cynopsis Digital “It List” Award recipients, an award honouring the best movers and shakers in digital content, marketing, advertising, social media and online content. During his tenure at TFO, Guérin and his teams were awarded many distinctions: a Gemini for the BRBR application in 2017; a Gemini for the Rêve de Champlain website in 2015; a special NUMIX jury mention for Wuxia le Renard, also in 2015; and two YouTube Silver Play Buttons for the Mini Dorémi and Mini ABC YouTube channels. Guérin is an MBA graduate of IUA San Francisco, offering vast marketing and business development experience.

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Juries
  • Fiscal 2022 - 2023: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 2
  • Fiscal 2020 - 2021: Commercial Projects Program - Round 1
  • Fiscal 2019 - 2020: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 1
  • Fiscal 2018 - 2019: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 2
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Marika Laforest
Québec, Canada

For more than 20 years, Marika Laforest has navigated her way through the digital, Web and social media universe. She has worked in several digital spheres in the industrial, retail sales, construction, technology, education, tourism, television and culture sectors. After five years as digital project manager at Culture pour tous, including the Lab culturel, she now guides cultural organizations through their digital transformation. She also offers various training sessions in digital and social media. On Facebook, she founded and co-manages Les arts, la culture et le numérique communities (with more than 2,000 members), as well as the group Gestionnaires de communauté du Québec (with more than 1,500 members). She is fascinated by human behaviour on and with digital media.

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Juries
  • Fiscal 2022 - 2023: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 1
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Mia Consalvo
Montréal, Canada

Mia Consalvo is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Game Studies and Design at Concordia University in Montreal. She is the co-author of Real Games: What's Legitimate and What's Not in Contemporary Videogames (2019) and Players and their Pets: Gaming Communities from Beta to Sunset (2015). She is also co-editor of Sports Videogames (2013) and the Handbook of Internet Studies (2011), and is the author of Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames (2007) as well as Atari to Zelda: Japan's Videogames in Global Context (2016).

Mia runs the mLab, a space dedicated to developing innovative methods for studying games and game players. She's a member of the Centre for Technoculture, Art & Games (TAG), she has presented her work at industry as well as academic conferences including regular presentations at the Game Developers Conference. She is the Past President of the Digital Games Research Association, and has held positions at MIT, Ohio University, Chubu University in Japan and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

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Juries
  • Fiscal 2022 - 2023: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 2
  • Fiscal 2021 - 2022: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 1
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Nadia Seraiocco
Montréal, Canada

Nadia Seraiocco has been a lecturer in digital media in the École des médias and in the department of social and public communications at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM) since 2013. She began her career as a cultural reporter for Voir Québec and a number of other specialized magazines. She then worked in communications for some 15 years, including work for the City of Montreal, the National Gallery of Canada, Les éditions de la courte échelle, and RECYC-Québec. Having completed a master’s degree in 2009 with a thesis on the films of the Fluxus Group, she began doctoral studies in communications in 2015.

Nadia is well known as an expert on the use of social media in public relations, web project management, and, more broadly, issues associated with the arts and technology. She co-authored one of the first books in Quebec on social media, Les médias sociaux 101 (Groupe Librex). She is a columnist for Radio-Canada’s Première chaîne, a former techno blogger for Radio-Canada, and maintains two blogs, including cheznadia.com (founded in 2002). She was a jury member for the 12th annual Grands Prix digital projects competition (Magazines du Québec) in 2011, the #modeMTL Awards (interactive component) in 2013, and the 3rd cohort of the Lab Culture awards in 2017. In 2018 she authored the first report on the use of digital formats in the dance sector with the Regroupement québécois de la danse (RQD).

As a speaker and moderator, Nadia has given conferences on artificial intelligence, including one for the I.Art event in the Quartier des spectacles, and has chaired panels on the subject for the Association des communicateurs scientifiques and Frontière IA. She is the moderator for the panel at this year’s MTL connect Montreal Digital Week/Digital Spring event. She is interested in the question of the datafication of society and its impacts on privacy and identity. To this end, she is preparing a thesis entitled “Créer un double de soi en données: application réflexive et performative des processus constitutifs d’un agent conversationnel” (creating a double of oneself in data: reflexive and performative application of the constitutive processes of a conversational agent). She is also a member of the Institut de recherches et d’études féministes de l’UQÀM (IREF).

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Juries
  • Fiscal 2023 - 2024: Commercial Projects Program - Round 2
  • Fiscal 2022 - 2023: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 2
  • Fiscal 2021 - 2022: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 2
  • Fiscal 2020 - 2021: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 2
  • Fiscal 2020 - 2021: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 1
  • Fiscal 2019 - 2020: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 2
  • Fiscal 2019 - 2020: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 1
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Rochelle Grayson
Vancouver, Canada

Rochelle Grayson, Executive-in-Residence (EiR) with New Ventures BC, is a serial entrepreneur and digital media executive with over 20 years of experience in business, technology, entertainment, and education. She has led and launched several start-ups and innovative digital media initiatives, working with a combination of both small and large companies, as well as highly analytical and creative individuals. Rochelle is equally comfortable discussing digital media business models, digital marketing trends and strategies, online community building, and internet and mobile technologies.

Rochelle has spoken at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, G-Star in Seoul, Korea, GDC San Francisco, Whistler Film Festival, and Digital Hollywood in Los Angeles and San Jose. She has also been nominated as one of Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women by the Women’s Executive Network, been named “The New Executive Cool Hunter” by Canadian Business Magazine, been awarded one of Vancouver’s Top Forty Under 40 by Business in Vancouver, and listed as one of Vancouver's Top 10 Technology Women.

Rochelle holds an MBA in Finance and Business Policy from the University of Chicago, and Six Sigma (Black Belt) Master Certifications in Product Development Management and Business Facilitation. Her career has taken her from New York to Silicon Valley and now to Vancouver, Canada.

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Juries
  • Fiscal 2023 - 2024: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 2
  • Fiscal 2022 - 2023: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 2
  • Fiscal 2022 - 2023: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 1
  • Fiscal 2021 - 2022: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 2
  • Fiscal 2021 - 2022: Commercial Projects Program - Round 1
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Scott C. Jones
Vancouver, Canada

Scott C. Jones is a veteran writer, TV host, and podcaster based in Vancouver, BC. He is the host of Heavily Pixelated and The Last Loot Drop, both forthcoming from Rogers/Frequency. He has been in the video game business, working as a consultant and a writer, for 20 years.

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Juries
  • Fiscal 2022 - 2023: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 1
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Stéphane D’Astous
Montréal, Canada

An experienced manager, Stéphane D'Astous has been working in the technology sector for more than 30 years. Stéphane quickly stood out for his expertise in strategic and operational management, helping several companies propel themselves towards accelerated and sustained growth.

Stéphane began his career in the transportation and aerospace industry, where he worked for a decade for large companies such as NovaBus, Bombardier Aerospace and CAE. He went on to build a place for himself in the thriving video game industry. Stéphane held the position of Director of Operations and Project Office at Ubisoft Montreal when the company was embarking on a massive expansion. Stéphane then founded the Eidos-Montréal studio where he held the position of General Manager. A true builder, he managed to build from scratch this world-class studio that today employs more than 500 employees. Subsequently, Stéphane worked as Executive Producer for Moment Factory and Float4, two companies specializing in large multimedia installations. He continued as COO for Meta4, an expert-company in the field of VR. Then, while acting as GM, he opened the Montreal studio of Novaquark, a video game company specializing in MMOs. A startup expert, he led his 4th studio launch in Montreal for Quantic Dream, where the team will participate in the development of the next big Star Wars Eclipse game. Since 2022, Stephane has founded his own consulting company that aims to help, support, and optimize the growth of small and large companies.

Stéphane was president of the Alliance Numérique from 2011 to 2013 and a member of the FMC jury for the experimental component on two occasions. He has also participated in numerous advisory committees (Numix, MIGS, Canadian Video Awards) and several economic trade missions for the Quebec and Canadian governments to promote the digital and entertainment industries internationally.

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Juries
  • Fiscal 2022 - 2023: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 1
  • Fiscal 2016 - 2017: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 1
  • Fiscal 2015 - 2016: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 2
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Tina Merry
Vancouver, Canada

Tina Merry is a proven expert directing and coaching diverse teams under a distributed development model. She has shipped over 25 "AAA” game titles across multiple platforms, working with globally recognized brands and organizations. She lived several years in Romania, Sweden and the UK, which provided her with unique cultural insights and experiences, enhancing her effectiveness as a global leader and coach. Tina is also a lifelong learner. To further develop her skills, she achieved a certification in 2018 as a Cultural Intelligence (CQ) Advanced Facilitator, applying this to date both professionally and for pro-bono speaking in the education sector.

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Juries
  • Fiscal 2023 - 2024: Commercial Projects Program - Round 1
  • Fiscal 2022 - 2023: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 2
  • Fiscal 2020 - 2021: Commercial Projects Program - Round 1
  • Fiscal 2019 - 2020: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 2
  • Fiscal 2019 - 2020: Innovation & Experimentation - Round 1