Lyla Miklos

2016 - Best Arts & Culture Journalist

2016 MAGGIE AWARD ACCEPTANCE SPEECH. BEST JOURNALIST – ARTS & CULTURE. LYLA MIKLOS. HOST & PRODUCER. CENTRE STAGE. 101.5 FM: Thank you so much for bestowing me this honour. Tons of gratitude to my fans, friends, and family who all voted for me online. Thank you to this year’s Maggies Jury: Kevin MacKay, Sherri Hewitt-Currie, Amanda Stewart, and Kurt Muller. Props to my fellow nominees. It is very humbling to be named in the same category as Ryan Liddell, Kristin Archer, Ric Taylor, and Sara Cymbalisty. My radio show Centre Stage on 101.5 FM The Hawk has afforded me the opportunity to pursue two of my deepest passions: Broadway Musicals and listening to the sound of my own voice! Back when I was a first year Radio Broadcasting student at Mohawk College, over 20 years ago, I walked into what was then known as CHMR (Available only on Cable FM!) and asked the Station Manager Andy Posthumus if I could host my own radio show. He gave a plucky kid a chance and said yes and probably regretted it 30 seconds after he heard me on air. No doubt for my eventual roast he will dig out the recording of my very first show in which I apologized and said SORRY every other second for something I screwed up on air. In fact I was apologizing SO much that Andy eventually called me in the middle of my show and told me to stop apologizing, which then had me apologizing on the phone to him and saying sorry some more. By the end of my college years CHMR would go from Cable FM to FM and become CIOI or 101.5 FM Mohawk College Radio and later INDI 101.5 FM. Andy moved on to new adventures and our new Station Manager would become Les Palango. Les gallantly defended me several years ago when a certain theatre company, who shall remain nameless, refused to let me see any more of their productions after giving them a bad review. He went toe to toe with the company’s Artistic Director and successfully got my review privileges restored. I will forever be grateful that he believed in me and had my back. My Radio Station Managers, Andy Posthumus and Les Palango, have always been two of my biggest fans and cheerleaders and I wouldn’t be up here today without their support and encouragement. The radio station went from being housed in the student centre to the college’s F-Wing and yet another rebranding took place and we are now known as 1015 The Hawk. But through all the changes in Station Managers, Home Bases, and Brand Names it has been the volunteers at the radio station who give up their time and energy and put it into sharing their passions on air with their listeners that have truly kept our community campus radio station humming. Many of those volunteers just like myself have been honing their craft for decades. I am also profoundly touched that this particular award is named after my dear friend Robin Pittis who passed away this Spring. His loss has been deeply felt by Hamilton’s theatre arts community. There are far too many days where I see a play and wish he was sitting next to me reviewing it too so we could have a good old chin wag once the curtain goes down. We had been friends since we were teenagers playing D&D in our friend’s basements and performing in Theatre Aquarius’s Summer School programme. His loss has been a big hole in many of our lives. There is a cash prize that comes along with this award. I want to let you all know that I will be donating my monetary reward to Under The Willows, an arts garden and play program run out of Lynwood Charlton Centre every summer for at risk children and youth that was especially near and dear to my friend Robin Pittis. My deep and sincere thanks and gratitude for this honour. Thank you very much!