From Feb. 19 to 23, the 18th edition of the French-Canadian Communication Games will be held at Concordia University.
The Communication (Coms) Games is an annual competition between nine universities of Eastern Canada, in which the participants get to compete for four days in 13 different case competitions related to the communications field. The categories include the production of a television newscast, a radio newscast, print journalism, social media, an advertising pitch, film production, a cultural show, and many more. Each university has its own 32 delegates to represent it during the competition.
From October to February, the delegation, chosen after competitive auditions, meets for a minimum of 10 hours a week to prepare for their challenge.
For his third year in the Games, Jean-Frédéric Daigneault decided to take over an extra challenge and become a chief, one of three responsible for managing the Concordia 2014 delegation.
“I wanted to help the project grow at Concordia. We are just starting to develop an interesting program and I wanted to be part of that progression,” said Daigneault.
“Once you experience the Games, you will want to do it again and again” said Pierre-Luc Miville, former recipient of the gold medal in film production. Miville is participating for his fourth year, and now works as a professional video producer and director.
Having seen four different editions of the Games, Miville said, “The organizing committee this year are pushing the limits of each individual case competition and are bringing new exciting elements to the table. They have also brought many sponsors for each case, which will bring real professional value to the Coms Games.”
Participating for the first time this year, Schubert Laforest explained how he can already see the benefits of partaking in such a competition.
“The networking you do through the Games is beneficial career wise. The sheer amount of people you meet in the communications field is significant, from professionals to students who will work in the field, which in turn opens many doors,” said Laforest.
Concordia is the only English university to take part in the Coms Game for the last nine years. Last year, Concordia ranked third overall in the competition, just below Laval University and UQÀM, and in 2012, Concordia ranked second overall.
“It’s about representing your university and honouring the high calibre of your fellow students by refusing to perform any less than the best of your abilities,” said Laforest.
This year’s Games will be sponsored by Ici Radio-Canada, La Presse +, MAtv, 98,5 FM and Fantasia.
To support Concordia’s delegation Like them on Facebook: www.facebook.com/jdlcconcordia or follow them on Twitter @ jdlcconcordia
Audrey Folliot is a member of Concordia’s Communication Games team.