THE DOCTOR BIRD AWARDS IN FILM AND TELEVISION 2000  The Doctor Bird Awards in Film and Television was introduced in 1998 as an initiative of Mediamix - in celebration of its 25th Anniversary - to acknowledge and honour excellence of individual creative contributions (in front of and behind the camera) by Jamaicans - domiciled at home and abroad. see DBA Flashback 98 The Doctor Bird Awards in Film and Television 2000, dubbed "The Jamaican Oscars", will once again deliver an array of international and local movie and television stars - all of whom have blazed indelible imprints in the arena of the motion picture and television industry.

THE NAME OF THE AWARD was inspired by the unique features of this bird which is to be found only in Jamaica. Being the national bird, it is readily identified with Jamaica.

Its natural visual beauty together with its deeply rooted cultural symbolism recommended its representation for the Award.

The Doctor Bird shares the beautiful iridescent plumage with, but is distinguished from, other humming birds by the unique long twin tail of the mature male. It is not only visually beautiful but also elegant, colourful and exciting to watch when hovering in mid flight with wings beating at blinding speeds within a second.

It carries an air of mystery and supernatural qualities. Frederic Cassidy in Jamaica Talk (Dictionary of Jamaican English) reminds us that "doctor" is another name for the Obeah man and that the bird is an object of superstition : "Doctor bud a cunny bud, hard bud fe dead" (Jamaican folk song). The belief in the magical properties of the Doctor bird dates back to the Taino (Arawaks) who called it the "God bird" and believed it was the reincarnation of dead souls. The name still remains.

THE TROPHY IS DESIGNED AND EXECUTED by Phillip Surpersad  who is a ceramist and tutor at the the Edna Manley School for the Visual Arts. His introduction to the Jamaican artistic landscape in the 1970s was marked by more than a distinctive style - he stood out from the rest and continues to do so. His career path has led him locally to pursue areas of research and documentation of available minerals for ceramics. Internationally, he has gained scholarships to ceramic centres in Italy and Australia, acted as a consultant to the OAS, and exhibited throughout Jamaica and the wider Caribbean as well as the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and Australia