Earlier this year, Bell Canada announced that it cancelled its sponsorship to the Canada Council for the Arts in support of the Bell Canada Award in Video Art. For over twenty years, with the sponsorship assistance of Bell and the expert stewardship of Council, this prestigious award has honoured twenty-four innovative media artists at the vanguard of the medium, and has been a key instrument in establishing Canada’s national and international reputation for ground-breaking work in this field. It was the only award of its kind in Canada and considering the modesty of the amount involved ($10,000) its impact has been truly significant. In a letter dated 17 January 2011, each of the twenty-four previous Bell Canada award recipients signed urging the Canada Council to rescue and continue this extremely important honour through an ongoing annual award in public recognition of outstanding practice in the Media Arts field. It would be a major loss to forfeit the momentum of such a unique prize. We cannot overstate the importance of the Bell Award, not only for the recipients but for its impact on the entirety of artist-driven media art practices in Canada. For more than twenty years, lacking any equivalent, it has been a visionary acknowledgment in a remarkable sector. We the undersigned appeal to the Canada Council of the Arts to continue its important work in sustaining a media arts award until another sponsor can be secured.