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PRESENTERS AND PERFORMERS ANNOUNCED FOR THE LEGACY AWARDS, LIVE ON CBC AND CBC GEM, SEPTEMBER 29

SadBoi and Smiley to perform together

Fan Choice Digital Content Creator Award voting closes this Friday at 6 p.m. ET

TORONTO, September 26, 2024 Shamier Anderson and Stephan James, Scarborough, ON, natives and co-founders of The Black Academy, alongside CBC, Insight Productions, and Bay Mills Studios, today announced the performers and presenters for Sunday’s celebration. These artists join gold-medal winning athletes and previously announced award recipients Cameron Bailey, Kardinal Offishall, and Weyni Mengesha. Hosted by Adrian Holmes, The Legacy Awards broadcasts live on CBC and CBC Gem on Sunday, September 29 at 8 p.m. (9 p.m. AT/9:30 p.m. NT).

The show features performances by rising star SadBoi, Smiley, d’bi.young, Neema Bickersteth, and Morgan-Paige Melbourne and an appreciation of recent Canadian gold medallists in its Athlete Tribute – hammer throw champion Camryn Rogers and the men’s 4×100 metre relay team, Aaron Brown, Andre De Grasse, Brendon Rodney, and Jerome Blake.

Presenting awards at this year’s ceremony are Canada’s Queen of R&B and 2023 Icon Award recipient, Jully Black; 2024 JUNO Award winner Aqyila; writer, broadcaster, and host Amanda Parris; 1996 Olympic gold medallist Bruny Surin; celebrated filmmaker Clement Virgo; actor, writer, director, and producer Ngozi Paul; world-champion hurdler Perdita Felicien, and more.

Voting for the Legacy Awards Fan Choice Digital Content Creator Award closes on September 27 at 6 p.m. ET.This award allows fans to choose their favourite Black-identifying Canadian digital content creators. This year’s nominees are: Access By Tay (Toronto); Citron Rose (Montréal); OT The OG (Toronto); Queeny Kuffour (Toronto); Ryan Holtz (Edmonton); and Toni Olaoye (Toronto). The winner is announced during The Legacy Awards on September 29. Visit vote.blackacademy.ca for more details.

The Legacy Awards is executive produced by Shamier Anderson and Stephan James of The Black Academy and Bay Mills Studios. John Brunton, Lindsay Cox, and Shannon Farr are the executive producers for Insight Productions (a Boat Rocker company) and Jordan Rudder is the producer/talent producer. Daniel Abrams also serves as EP. For CBC, Sally Catto is General Manager, Entertainment, Factual & Sports; Jennifer Dettman is Executive Director, Unscripted Content; and Nic Meloney is Executive in Charge of Production, Unscripted Content. The Black Academy, Insight Productions, and CBC are committed to hiring Black senior staff and crew members for The Legacy Awards.

The Black Academy gratefully acknowledges the financial support of our partners that support the year-round goals and programming initiatives of the organization.

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***Note to editors, producers, reporters, & photographers: media accreditation for The Legacy Awards is now closed. Please email Gabrielle Free at GabFree.Publicity@gmail.com and winston.ma@cbc.ca to receive updates from The Black Academy.***

Social Media:
@blackisnowcanada
@legacyawardsca
@insight.productions / @insightprod
@CBC / @CBCGem
#TheLegacyAwardsCBC
#TheBlackAcademy
#CelebrateBlackCanadians

The Black Academy is a national, year-round Canadian organization that operates at the intersection of Black popular culture and social justice. The goals of The Black Academy are to showcase Black excellence and to share those achievements with all of Canada; to establish new spaces for Black Canadians to celebrate and network; and to kickstart careers through training and knowledge-sharing. Across all our initiatives, we inspire young people and generations to come. Co-founded by actors, producers, and Scarborough-born brothers Shamier Anderson and Stephan James, The Black Academy is born out of a longstanding commitment to their community and is dedicated to dismantling systemic racism in Canada. Gail Case serves as its Executive Director. Established in 2020, The Black Academy is based in Toronto and is a division of the not-for-profit B.L.A.C.K Canada. https://blackisnow.com; Instagram: @BLACKISNOWCANADA

About CBC/Radio-Canada
CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada’s national public broadcaster. Through our mandate to inform, enlighten and entertain, we play a central role in strengthening Canadian culture. As Canada’s trusted news source, we offer a uniquely Canadian perspective on news, current affairs and world affairs. Our distinctively homegrown entertainment programming draws audiences from across the country. Deeply rooted in communities, CBC/Radio-Canada offers diverse content in English, French and eight Indigenous languages. We also deliver content in Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Punjabi and Tagalog, as well as both official languages, through Radio Canada International (RCI). We are leading the transformation to meet the needs of Canadians in a digital world.

About Insight Productions (A Boat Rocker Company)

Insight Productions is Canada’s most established content producer, known for its award-winning ratings juggernauts and many of the country’s biggest award shows & music specials. Headed by John Brunton, Insight is an industry leader in the development, financing, and production of both scripted and unscripted hit programming.  John Brunton, Lindsay Cox, and Shannon Farr serve as executive producers on The Legacy Awards and Jordan Rudder is the producer/talent producer. Programming highlights include Stronger Together, Tous Ensemble, The JUNO Awards, The Canadian Screen Awards, The Amazing Race Canada, Big Brother Canada, Top Chef Canada, Canada Day 150! From Coast to Coast to Coast, and Canada’s Ultimate Challenge. In 2016, Insight produced The Tragically Hip: A National Celebration for CBC, a live concert special seen by one in three Canadians. Insight Productions was founded in 1979 and has since created thousands of hours of ground-breaking content. https://insighttv.com

About Bay Mills Studios

Bay Mills Studios is a cutting-edge production company founded by powerhouse brothers and actors Shamier Anderson & Stephan James. BMS is focused on showcasing an eclectic and inclusive lineup of diverse stories from feature films, scripted and unscripted TV, short-form, digital media and a panoply of other platform-agnostic content. Shamier and Stephan combine their creative expertise and ability to engage global audiences, to create ground-breaking content that pushes the boundaries all while being rooted in entertainment.

Media Contacts:
Gabrielle Free | Free Publicity (for The Black Academy & Insight Productions)
GabFree.Publicity@gmail.com
416-220-0201

Winston Ma | CBC PR
Winston.ma@cbc.ca
647-327-7408