And the winner is ...

 Congratulations to Paisley V. Sim ... 

"Yes!  Look up, Calgary" 1st Awesome Foundation Calgary Winner!

Paisley V Sim says YES! to $1000 grant from Awesome Foundation Calgary!

Paisley wowed us with her idea to have a giant "Yes!" sky written over Calgary to empower Calgarians to believe that we can accomplish whatever we set our minds to!  


Paisley has some other aspects to the project to get 1000s of people involved for this big event.  Watch for it to hit the sky some time in June!  


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Here is Paisley's pitch that won our hearts and the $1000. 

I’m elated to be back in Calgary because more than any other city, Calgary is full of boundless potential. We are consistently surprising the country and world with our truly awesome community engaged initiatives (like this one!), our handsome and inspiring mayor, our energetic bid to become the 2012 cultural capital of Canada, our festivals, parks, and with the many diverse flourising communities learning to coexist in the midst of an ever evolving cultural and economic landscape. Calgary is awesome in more ways than I can touch on here, and my awesome idea is designed to alter the landscape of this city temporarily. It will reach hundreds if not thousands of unsuspecting Calgarians, and it will shake people’s day-to-day experience of this city - making them realize that Calgary is an awe-inspiring capital.

Simply put: I will hire a skywriter to fly a small plane over downtown Calgary at 4:30pm on a weekday afternoon in June to write the word YES! in the clouds. This ephemeral message is positive and can be interpreted in many many ways.

Yes!  Calgary can do it!

YES! Calgary is vibrant!
YES! Calgary is moving forward!
YES! Calgary is going to be the 2012 cultural capital!
and YES! Calgary is full of surprises! (It’s kind of like a high-five to the whole city, but in the sky. )

I’ve been in contact with a skywriting company and because it’s awesome, they will coordinate this flight en route to another job, taking the price of skywriting from the standard $2000 minimum to $1000. This means that the day of the week is still undetermined, but it can be done. YES!

Leading up to the day of the flight, I will band together as many people (and as much chalk) as possible,  and we will cover sidewalks with 4:30PM  / LOOK UP / AWESOME.

And that’s what it’s going to be - awesome. The idea to write YES! in the clouds is feasible, it reaches a wide range of Calgarians, and illustrates that YES! Calgary is an awesome place to live, and YES! even when you think you know a place, it has the potential to surprise you. ~Paisley

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Melissa D'Souza sings "Rise Up!" to the crowd

Our first awards night was a huge success.  The four finalists gave awesome pitches and made our decision very tough.  (we'll post the video clips of their pitches here shortly).  Special thanks to Chris Hsiung for video-taping the event, to Melissa D'Souza who sang an "awesome" version of her hit song "Rise Up!" and to photographers Sabahat Naureen and Lonnie Taylor for capturing our event.  (thanks to Lonnie for the photos on this post ... more pics and videos to follow)



We couldn't have held this event without Shannon & Maria of Endeavor Arts Gallery!  What a fabulous venue to hold interactive events.   We loved it and I know our very enthusiastic audience was impressed with gallery.  

AF Calgary trustees with Paisley

***** Don't delay! Get your submission in for the next awards cycle.  All it takes is one awesome idea to win $1000 to get it going!  Get the deets here.

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Awesome Foundation Calgary is proud to present each winner with not only $1000 in cold, hard cash ... but also a custom-made Awesome Lootbag designed and created by Calgary's own "Judy, the bag lady".  

A medley of media!

Top4 Finalists