FAQ
- What is Canada's Next Great Prime Minister?
- Canada's Next Great Prime Minister is a nationally televised competition that showcases four young Canadians who compete by debating in front of four country leaders. An in studio audience watches the debate and determines the winner. Visit the About the Show page for more info.
- What does the winner receive?
- The competition winner receives $50,000 and an internship. The remaining finalists will each receive $5,000 and an internship. Please see the contest rules for full prizing details.
- When is the 2009 broadcast?
- Canada's Next Great Prime Minister airs on Wed. March 18, 2009 at 8 p.m. on CBC Television.
- **March 2009 update**: Please explain about the live debate on the night of your broadcast and associated contest.
- This year during the broadcast, Canada's Next Great Prime Minister is hosting an online debate in live chat format on this website. Using the online chat on the main page of this site, you are welcome to comment on the program as it airs in your time zone. We will randomly award 10 Canada's Next Great Prime Minister prize packs to participants throughout the broadcast, from 6:30 p.m. EDT on March 18, 2009 until 12:00 a.m. EDT on March 19. We will also select comments to appear in the online version of the show, which we will release following the broadcast. Please see the live debate contest rules for full details on eligibility, participation and prizing, and see our blog entry about the live debate for more info.
- How do I apply?
- The application phase for the 2009 show is now closed.
- What's the Web Winner Contest?
- For the first time, candidates and the Canadian public have the opportunity to select a semi-finalist in this competition. Visit the Web Winner page for information.
- How do I vote for my favourite candidate?
- Go to the candidate's page, then below their video, leave them a rating and a review. Visit the Web Winner page for information.
- I left a rating/review and it isn't posted. Why?
- Note that all ratings/reviews are pre-moderated during business hours/days. If you left a comment after business hours, expect it to be published the next morning.
- What's Boot Camp?
- Click here to read about the Boot Camp for the top eight semi-finalists.
- How do I get on the show?
- First, you enter online by creating a 3-5 minute video on a specific topic and filling out an entry form. Note that the entry phase is now closed. If you're a candidate, the next step is to complete a simple community challenge. Judges review your video entry and your challenge, then select seven semi-finalists from the applicant pool. One semi-finalist is selected by the public in the Web Winner contest. All eight semi-finalists are required to attend a Boot Camp in Toronto, where judges determine the four finalists who appear on the television program. Click here to enter the competition now.
- The contest timeline mentions video questions. What are the video questions? Are they required?
- At three different points in the competition, we will ask all competitors to respond to a video question that we’ll post online. These could include a famous person asking an interesting question, a clip from the news of the day or anything else. Answering the video questions is NOT required, but they could earn you bonus points. Think of these questions as your opportunity to show us more about who you are and what you stand for. The more the judges know about you, the better.
- What's the judging criteria?
- Click here to read the complete Judging Guidelines.
- Who are the judges?
- The prime ministers and political leaders are the judges on the actual television program. A judging panel consisting of representatives from CBC and the show sponsors (Magna International, The Dominion Institute and the Canada-US Fulbright program) evaluate the candidates on all the challenges leading up to that point.
- Do I have to do anything on Facebook?
- Many people in last year's competition created Facebook groups for their platform and gained an impressive number of supporters. Because this competition is similar to a political campaign, your efforts to gain support does factor into judging. However, this is not required to compete. Click here to become a fan of the show on Facebook.
- Does the judging take place on this site, on YouTube or Facebook?
- Judges first and foremost look at involvement on the official contest site here at CBC. If you want to rate & comment on videos or discuss topics with fellow candidates, it's in your best interest to do so on this site. We highly encourage video replies, but we will post them all back here where discussion can continue in a central location.
- When's the last day to enter the competition?
- The application submission deadline is November 15th, 2008.
- The entry form asks me for additional URLs. What are these?
- These are optional. If you have a Facebook group for your platform, a blog you maintain, if there's an article written about you or if you want to associate yourself with a cause online, include these URLs. Often candidates receive additional press coverage throughout the competition. If this happens, please email us the article URLs or other press links and we'll add them to your page.
- How can I change or add the links in my profile?
- Please email the Interactive Producer and ask if your change request can be accommodated.
- I made a video reply to another candidate's video. How do I post it?
- Post the video on YouTube (make sure it's embeddable) and notify us it's up. (On YouTube's video upload page, the embedding option is automatically selected under "Sharing Options.") We then create a page, embed it here and add links into it from your profile page and to the page which contains the original video to which you replied. Visit the video reply page to add a video reply to your profile now.
- What's the best way to keep up to date with what's happening with this competition?
- First, bookmark the contest timeline page. That will tell you the dates of various events happening during the course of the competition. Second, subscribe to the blog's RSS feed. We'll post everything that's going on there also.
- What's an RSS Feed?
- RSS feeds allow you to subscribe to a blog. When a new story is posted to the blog, you get notified automatically. Because we write a post whenever an important date is approaching, subscribing to our blog's RSS feed is a good way to ensure you don't miss deadlines. There are several RSS readers where you can store your feeds -- Google Reader is a popular one.
- I'm not a candidate in this competition, but I want to talk on the forums and leave comments. Is that allowed?
- Absolutely. As well as being the hub of the Canada's Next Great Prime Minister competition, this site also serves as a place for discussion on Canadian politics and society; as such, we encourage everyone to participate. Feel free to challenge the candidates with your own questions. To participate on the forums, video comments & blog, you'll need an account at the CBC Member Centre. If you don't have an account, click here to get an account. This account is also good for use at nearly all other CBC web sites.
- I have another question that's not covered here. Who do I ask?
- Please contact Producer Matt Barrington with your question or comment.
