The Western Magazine Awards (WMAs) have extended their entry deadline until March 16, 2012.

This year once again, the Amber Webb-Bowerman Memorial Foundation is proud to sponsor the student writing award. One student winner receives a prize of $750 and recognition among industry professionals.

To find out more about the WMAs, visit westernmagazineawards.ca/

The Big Albertaviewskis!

Tyler Hellard

Gwendolyn Richards and Julie Van Rosendaal, our fabulous MC.

Jen McDonald from the Sugar Bowl champion team The Bald Eagles steps up to the mat!

Gillian Bowerman from Bowerman’s BonBons.

Sugar Bowl 2011!

Cake Pops!

AWBMF board member Colleen Seto and Raging Bowl team member Jennifer Hamilton.

AWBMF board member Meredith Boyer.

AWBMF treasurer of the board Jeff Snide preps the BBQ!

Rita and Hamish, Sugar Bowl fans.

Sugar Bowl winners The Bald Eagles!

Susan Webb thanking Sugar Bowl participants and organizers.

Sugar Bowl 2nd place team Los Locos Bolos.

Team Get Em In Dudettes!

Team Raging Bowl!

The High Rollers!

The Honey Badgers!

Team Brody Jenner.

The Saphires.

Bowerman’s BonBons.

The Young Fogies.

The Wobbly Balls.

New Jack City!

The Sweet Potatoes!

We’ll be back soon with photos and specific details on how much we raised, but in the meantime, thanks to the following for all their hard work and support!

Our sponsors: Calgary Lawn Bowling Club, Big Rock Brewery, Tin Horn Creek.

Our volunteers: Julie Van Rosendaal, The Mackie Family, Calgary Lawn Bowling Club, Billie Rae Busby, Steve Cormier, Tyler Hellard, Sheena Lidgett, and the Foundation board members Meredith Boyer, Ian Busby, Käthe Lemon, Colleen Seto, Jeff Snide and Suzanne Trudel.

And all of our donors and supporters including special thanks to Brian Goin, Susan Webb, Shelley Boetcher, Tom Firth, RedPoint Media Group, Delta Lodge at Kananaskis, Theatre Calgary, Encana, Skoah and Moksha Yoga.

Registration is still open and we have room for a few more teams as well as individual players.

In addition to our sponsorship from Big Rock, we are proud to have the following sponsors for Sugar Bowl 2011: Calgary Lawn Bowling Club who has supplied the venue and Tinhorn Creek Winery who has supplied not only wine but also a stay at their guest house in Oliver, BC for our silent auction. We would also like to acknowledge the following donors who will be giving free stuff (!) to Sugar Bowl participants: Skoah and Moksha Yoga.

We hope to see you all on the greens as it promises to be a great night filled with fierce lawn bowling competition overseen by our celebrity commentator Julie Van Rosendaal, delightful BBQ dinner, drinks supplied by Big Rock and Tinhorn Creek, a wide selection of silent auction items including a sign Kiprusoff jersey, getaways to Kananaskis and Oliver, BC, tickets to the theatre, restaurant gift certificates and much more.

And if you needed even more reasons to come out and join us, Big Rock Brewery is sponsoring the event. What’s more, registration not only gets you in the door, it will get you a tax-receipt for $35.

Individual registration is $70 or register a team of four players for $280 and you will receive two complementary fan tickets (fans get dinner and drinks but can’t play) and team name buttons.

The Sugar Bowl takes place on August 27th at the Calgary Lawn Bowling Club (1238 - 16 Avenue SW) starting at 5 pm.

Tickets cost $70 per person or $280 for a team of four. If you register a full team we’ll throw in two “fan” tickets as well as team name buttons for your whole group. Fan tickets can also be purchased for $15 each and allow you to come out and cheer the teams on and have dinner and a drink with all of the Sugar Bowlers (you just don’t get to play). All participants will receive a barbecue dinner and two drink tickets.

Both team and individual registrations can be found now on our website and you can even pay for your registration online through Paypal.

Money raised at the Sugar Bowl will go toward creating an endowment for an ongoing journalism scholarship at Mount Royal University in Amber’s name.

We are also looking for donations for our Sugar Bowl silent auction and if you have anything you’d be able to donate, please contact info@amberbowerman.ca

On the eve of the third year anniversary of her passing, the Amber Webb-Bowerman Memorial Foundation announced the creation of a lasting legacy for their namesake during a press conference at SAIT Polytechnic.

Through the generous and kind efforts of donors, the Amber Webb-Bowerman Memorial Foundation has met its endowment fundraising objective for the SAIT Polytechnic journalism scholarship in Amber’s name. The final cheque for the SAIT endowment was presented today by the Foundation’s President, Kathe Lemon, to Debby Deniset, the Annual Giving Manager of SAIT Alumni and Development. The amount of the cheque was $10,497.93 reaching a total of more than $28,500 in the endowment, which will ensure that a journalism scholarship of $1,000 a year will be given in perpetuity.

“It was through many small acts of kindness and the donations of so many people in Calgary and across the country that this was possible. We appreciate the help from all of our donors, the supporters, and the media as well as those who participate in the annual fundraising events,” says Kathe Lemon, the President of the Amber Webb-Bowerman Memorial Foundation. “This isn’t the most significant donation ever in terms of the absolute amount, but it is truly a huge donation in terms of the number of people who came together to make it happen and who put their thoughts into making something positive from tragedy.”

The Amber Webb-Bowerman Memorial Foundation (AWBMF) was established in the summer of 2008 to honour and preserve the memory of journalist Amber Michelle Bowerman (nee Webb) who was killed in a multiple murder-suicide on May 27, 2008. The Amber Webb-Bowerman Memorial Foundation is a registered charity created to help fulfill her dreams by supporting emerging artists and journalists.

“The foundation was set up with both obvious and implicit goals. We wanted to develop scholarships to support the growth of students because that was important to Amber and reflective of her own aspirations,” says Lemon. “But we also had an implicit goal to create something that would help us heal as a community and do something positive with our grief. In establishing this lasting legacy I think we’ve helped to reach both of those goals.”

Dedicated to quality in writing, reporting and the arts, Amber encouraged and supported young journalists and artists similarly committed to their own careers. Amber had studied Journalism at SAIT Polytechnic and later became the full-time Editor of the SAIT’s campus newspaper, The Weal. At SAIT, she helped lead, mentor and teach the student reporters.

Ashley Kascak was the inaugural winner of the Amber Webb-Bowerman Memorial journalism scholarship at SAIT in 2009.

“It meant a lot because it came at a time of my life when I was questioning if I was doing that right thing (being a journalist). It confirmed that what I was doing was right because of who she (Amber) was and what the scholarship was about,” explains Kascak. “Journalism is what I care about and it meant a lot.”

Although Kascak never met Amber, it is clear the foundation’s namesake has made a strong impression on her.

“She must have been incredible,” says Kascak. “From what I have heard and read about, she touched a lot of people and had a great heart. She was caring of others and because of that, others cared about her. And of course, she excelled in journalism too.”

Kascak is actively involved with supporting the Foundation and eagerly participates in the Foundation’s annual fundraiser, The Sugar Bowl – a recreational lawn bowling event. “I think of it as the passing of the torch and giving back. People saw something in me. It touched my heart and I want to stay connected.”

The scholarship endowment at SAIT Polytechnic is only the first accomplishment on the wish-list for the Amber Webb-Bowerman Memorial Foundation. Next up, the foundation will establish a similar endowment at Mount Royal University in Calgary. The foundation also plans to continue supporting the annual student writing award it has established with the Western Magazine Awards Foundation.

Donors can contribute to the registered charity online at amberbowerman.ca.

The third annual Sugar Bowl fundraiser will be held on August 27, 2011 at the Calgary Lawn Bowling Club and tickets will be for sale soon at amberbowerman.ca

“We want her legacy to continue and there is much more to still do,” says Lemon. “We want to be true to who Amber was through all of our efforts.”

Tickets will cost $70 per person or $280 for a team of four. If you register a full team we’ll throw in two “fan” tickets. Fan tickets can also be purchased for $15 each and allow you to come out and cheer the teams on and have dinner and a drink with all of the Sugar Bowlers (you just don’t get to play).

We are also looking for donations for our Sugar Bowl silent auction and if you have anything you’d be able to donate, please contact info@amberbowerman.ca

Visit us again soon for registration.

Thanks again everyone!