London’s Jackie Redmond wins TV challenge

Photo cap: Jackie Redmond studied broadcast journalism at Guelph Humber. The winner of the Drafted series is hired as a contributor to theScore Television Network, ScoreMobile, theScore.com and theScore Satellite Radio.

By JIM REYNO

Published: November 29, 2011 12:53 p.m.

Last modified: November 30, 2011 2:47 a.m.

London’s Jackie Redmond has won a national TV competition to be a sports broadcaster.
Redmond defeated nine other finalists — selected from thousands of applicants — to win Drafted 3: The Search for Canada’s Next Sportscaster on theScore.
“I was confident that I had the potential to win, but I knew that the competition was stiff and other contestants all had really big personalities in different ways,” said Redmond, a former on-air radio personality in London.
“When I first got to Toronto for the contest, I was intimidated by that a little bit. Once I got over that, it was just working hard and getting through the grind.”
The 10-week sportscaster bootcamp featured competitions in everything from highlight challenges to mock job interviews.
Redmond, 24, gets a one-year contract with theScore, as well as a one-year deal to be a Gillette spokesperson.
Redmond starts at theScore next week, although she doesn’t know yet when she’ll be on air.

“I would love to do anything in hockey or basketball — those are my favourite sports,” she said about her broadcasting goals. “But I like the big four (sports); I like the analysis side of the game. I like watching the games and talking about what’s going on and what can be done better.”