65 Red Roses up for Banff TV award

65 Red Roses, a documentary about a Victoria, B.C., girl with cystic fibrosis and a powerful will to live, has been nominated for a Banff World Television Award.

The documentary about Eva Markvoort, created by Force Four Entertainment and CBC, is competing for best social and humanitarian documentary with the TVO/Nomad Films production Empire of the Word, a four-hour documentary that explores the history of reading.

Markvoort died earlier this month, after her body rejected a lung transplant she had two years ago — a part of her life covered by the documentary that was named for her online moniker 65 Red Roses.

The two Canadian works compete with documentaries from the Netherlands and Sweden for the TV awards, known as the Rockies, which are presented annually at the Banff Television Festival.

Nominations in 34 categories were announced Wednesday from among 900 international entries.

Four CBC productions earned nominations, including Little Mosque on the Prairie, reality TV show Make the Politician Work and mini-series Diamonds.

An episode of Little Mosque is competing with comedy programs Scrubs, Two and Half Men and Curb Your Enthusiasm from the U.S., and U.K. sitcom FM.

The drama series category has U.S. programs Criminal Minds and Fringe vying for the Rockie with Blue Sky Blue from Norway, The Street from Britain and Radio-Canada's Mirador.

There are 34 nominees from the U.S. networks and 31 from Britain, as well as a handful from France, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan and Brazil.

The  26 entries from Canada include:

• Le Printemps de Melie/ Molly in Springtime  from the NFB.
• Pitchin' In: Shrimp from Frantic Films and the Food Network. 
• Til Debt Do Us Part from Frantic Films and Slice.
• Mastertracks from GlassBox Media.
• Karsh is History, a documentary about the great Canadian photographer.
• Documentary The Language of Al Qaeda (The Al Qaeda Code)
• Reality TV series Ice Pilots.

Also nominated in the category for cross-platform project is the Olympic Torch Cam seen on CTV during the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. 

The Banff World Television Awards will be given out in Banff, Alta., on June 15.