NEWS AND DOCUMENTARY EMMYS
It’s been a very good Emmy season for indie documentaries on PBS.
POV received four of the six statuettes credited to PBS in the National Academy of Television Arts and Science’s Sept. 26 Emmy announcement. Two went to Food Inc., putting it at the top of the documentary and long-form informational programming categories.
The Television Academy gave NPR Music an Emmy for an online video featuring the composer-musician Moby, shot in the radio network’s recording studio. (Image: NPR.)
In a likely first for a Web-based service run by a radio network, NPR Music was honored by the Television Academy for the Project Song video “Moby” as one of two News & Doc Emmy winners for innovation in arts, lifestyle and culture coverage. The 16-minute video, distributed by NPR.org in May 2010, featured electronic musician Moby and singer Kelli Scarr sprinting toward writing and recording a multilayered song on a two-day deadline in NPR’s studio. NYTimes.com – also a new contender for Emmys – shared recognition in this category for its online magazine feature “14 Actors Acting.”
News & Doc Emmys were also presented to Independent Lens, the ITVS-produced series that launched its 10th season last week, and Frontline, the investigative documentary series from WGBH in Boston.
POV’s Emmy-winning documentaries were:
Food Inc., directed and produced by Robert Kenner. Also credited: Elise Pearlstein, producer; Eric Schlosser, Richard Pearce and Melissa Robeldo, co-producers; William Pohlad, Jeff Skoll, Robin Schorr and Diane Weyermann, e.p.’s; and Patricia Boero, e.p. for Latino Public Broadcasting.
“Presumed Guilty,” for long-form investigative journalism. Directed by Roberto Hernández and Geoffrey Smith. Also credited: Layda Negrete, Roberto Hernández, Martha Sosa and Yissel Ibarra, producers; Ernesto Canales Santos, Ana Laura Magaloni, Harley Shaiken, Luciana Kaplan and Layda Sansores San Román, e.p.’s.
“Good Fortune,” for long-form business and economic reporting. Credited: Landon Van Soest, director and producer; Also credited: Jeremy Levine, producer; Benard Aulo Ohanga, field producer; Katy Chevigny, Judith Helfand, Diana Barrett and Andrew Herwitz, e.p.’s.
Emmys presented to these docs also credited members of POV’s production team, including Simon Kilmurry, e.p.
NPR Music tied for top Emmy recognition for new approaches to arts, lifestyle and culture. John Poole and David Gilkey produced the video with host Bob Boilen and Neil Tevault, audio engineer.
Independent Lens received the Emmy for arts and culture programming for “Art & Copy,”directed by Doug Pray. Also credited were producers Jimmy Greenway and Michael Nadeau with Mary Warlick, David Baldwin, Gregory Beauchamp and Kirk Souder, e.p.’s. Sally Jo Fifer is e.p. for ITVS.
Frontline won for its image campaign “Times Like These,” which topped the category for institutional promo. Missy Frederick wrote and produced the campaign with John MacGibbon, editor; Michael Frederick, designer; and Megan McGough, music research.
Maggie Smith won the Prime-time Emmy for her performance in supporting role as Violet, dowager countess of Grantham, the family matriarch in Masterpiece's Downton Abbey. (Photo: © 2010 Nick Briggs/ITV for Masterpiece.)
PRIMETIME EMMY AWARDS
Masterpiece Classic’s Downton Abbey led PBS’s Emmy winners.
Among six Primetime Emmys presented in September [2011] to the British costume drama was the highly coveted statuette for best miniseries.
Producers of documentary and performance series brought PBS’s Emmy total up to 14 while earning recognition for exceptional merit in filmmaking, nonfiction programming and Creative Arts specialties.
The American Academy of Television Arts and Sciences presented its Primetime Emmys in two ceremonies last month: a Sept. 10 [2011] event recognizing achievements in TV’s Creative Arts, and a Sept. 18 televised gala celebrating the biggest shows and stars.
“Freedom Riders,” Stanley Nelson’s two-hour doc for American Experience, also stood out among PBS’s Emmy contenders, winning a juried award for exceptional merit in filmmaking and two statuettes for Creative Arts. American Masters received its eighth Emmy for outstanding nonfiction series, and Great Performances won three Creative Arts Emmys.
Winning programs and credited talents include:
- Masterpiece Classic’s Downton Abbey, Part I, which topped miniseries categories for writing by Julian Fellowes; supporting actress Maggie Smith; directing by Brian Percival; cinematography by David Katznelson; and costumes by Susannah Buxton and Caroline McCall. Credited for the best miniseries Emmy were Nigel Marchant, producer; Liz Trubridge, series producer; and Gareth Neame, Rebecca Eaton and Julian Fellowes, executive producers.
- American Experience “Freedom Riders,” for writing in the nonfiction programming category by Stanley Nelson and for picture editing by Lewis Erskine and Aljernon Tunsil. Credited for the Emmy for exceptional merit in nonfiction filmmaking were Nelson and Laurens Grant; Sharon Grimberg, senior producer; and Mark Samels, e.p.
- American Mastersfor music composition (original dramatic score) by Garth Neustadter in “John Muir In the New World.” Credited for the Emmy for nonfiction series were: Michael Epstein and Jessica Levin, producers; Julie Sacks, supervising producer; Prudence Glass, series producer; Susan Lacy, Stanley Buchthal and Michael Cohl, e.p.’s.
Great Performances won Creative Arts Emmys for three productions:
- “Sondheim! The Birthday Concert,” for directing in a variety, music or comedy special by Lonny Price;
- “Harry Connick Jr., in Concert on Broadway,” for music direction by Harry Connick Jr.
- Great Performances at The Met “Don Pasquale,” for technical direction, camerawork, video control for a miniseries, movie or special by Emmett Loughran, technical director; Miguel Armstrong, Joseph Debonis, Manny Gutierrez, Shaun Harkins, John Kosmaczewski, Bob Long, Jay Millard, Alain Onesto, David Smith, Larry Solomon, Ron Washburn and Mark Whitman, camera; Anthony Defonzo, Matty Randazzo and Paul Ranieri, video control.
PUBLIC RADIO NEWS DIRECTORS INC. AWARDS
KJZZ, WBEZ, WBGO and KLCC led the annual contest among local pubradio newsrooms.
Each took three or more first-place PRNDI awards in a competition among peer-group stations. PRNDI groups stations into tiers based on the number of full-time news staffers they employ.
In division A, comprising stations with the largest newsrooms, KJZZ in Phoenix and Chicago’s WBEZ each received three top prizes. All three PRNDI awards to WBEZ recognized Inside and Out, a special series on juvenile justice that aired across a six-month period in 2010.
WGBO, a news and jazz station in Newark, N.J., won six first-place awards in division B, including stations with three or four full-time journalists.
KLCC in Eugene, Ore., won five PRNDI Awards in division C, which includes stations with full-time news staffs of one or two.
First-place PRNDI Awards were presented to a total of 31 stations across 16 categories:
Breaking News — Division A: WUSF, Tampa, Fla.; Division B: WBFO, Buffalo, N.Y.; Division C: KGOU, Norman, Okla.
Spot News — A: KPLU, Seattle/Tacoma; B:WBGO; C: KLCC.
Continuing Coverage — A: KJZZ; B: KERA, Dallas; C: WCAI, Cape and Islands, Mass.
Newscast — A:WFPL, Louisville, Ky.; B:WBGO; C: KCCU, Lawton, Okla.
Writing — A: WNYC, New York; B:WILL, Urbana, Ill.; C: KLCC.
Multimedia presentation — A:WBEZ; B: KERA; C: KLCC.
Call-in program — A: WNPR, Hartford, Conn., for Where We Live; B: WJCT, Jacksonville, Fla., for First Coast Connect; C: WUOT, Knoxville, Tenn., for Dialogue.
News/public affairs program — A:KJZZ, for “Arizona’s Fiscal Nightmare”; B:WBGO, for WBGO Journal; C: KRCC, Colorado Springs, Colo., for Western Skies.
Commentary — A:Vermont Public Radio; B:WBGO; C: WFUV, New York. Interview —A: Colorado Public Radio’s KFCR in Denver; B:WBGO; C: KLCC.
Documentary — A:WGCU, Fort Myers, Fla., for “Lucia’s Letter”; B:WKYU, Bowling Green, Ky., for “The Decision to Drop the Bomb on Hiroshima”; C: WYSO, Yellow Springs, Ohio, for “Conrad and Evelyn.”
Enterprise/Investigative — A:WBEZ; B:Nebraska’s NET Radio; C: WKNO, Memphis, Tenn.
Series —A:WBEZ for Inside and Out; B:North Country Public Radio, Canton, N.Y., for The Hospice Path; C: WCAI for Venture Philanthropy.
Soft feature — A:WNYC; B:WNIJ, DeKalb, Ill.; C: KLCC.
News feature — A:KJZZ; B:Wyoming Public Radio; C: WRKF, Baton Rouge, La.
Use of Sound — A:Vermont Public Radio; B: WBGO; C: KSAK, Walnut, Calif.
All of the winning entries were produced in 2010.
DEI BENCHMARKS AWARD
New Hampshire Public Radio was cited for outstanding performance in fundraising.
NHPR, based in Concord, ranks among the most efficient public radio outlets in converting listeners into givers, and it raises more net underwriting revenue per listener-hour than peer stations, according to DEI’s Benchmarks analysis, which evaluates fundraising performance across the public radio system.
The New Hampshire network’s achievements in major-gift fundraising are especially impressive, according to Joan Kobayashi, g.m. of KMFA in Austin, Texas, who announced the award this summer during DEI’s Public Media Development and Marketing Conference in Pittsburgh. NHPR’s program for soliciting donations of $1,000 and higher has increased its revenues 60 percent over the past five years. The gains are especially notable because New Hampshire ranks near the bottom of all 50 states in charitable giving, she said.
DEI presents its Benchmarks Award annually to recognize stations that raise more net revenue relative to their audience size than peer stations, or that make dramatic improvements in their fundraising results. Winners are chosen from DEI’s Benchmarks analysis, which evaluates performance according to fundraising expense, audience size, peer groups and the Community Financial Support Index, which evaluates a station’s ability to withstand losses in federal and state subsidies.
NHPR also stands out by this measure, ranking in the 90th percentile of the financial support index among stations in its peer group. “If all federal and state subsidies went away, our winner would be able to pay nearly all of its bills with the money it raises” from membership and underwriting revenues, Kobayashi said. “Only a handful of stations in the country can say that.”
PRPD/ARA DON OTTO AWARD
Programmer Shelia Rue received the Don Otto Award at PRPD.
The veteran programmer and workshop instructor for Public Radio Program Directors was honored for career contributions to the field at a presentation during the association’s conference last month in Baltimore.
PRPD and ARA honored Tampa
programmer Sheila Rue with
the Otto Award. (Photo: Mark
Vogelzang.)
Rue, p.d. at Tampa’s WUSF since 2008 (and lately its classical sister station, WSMR), previously directed programming at KUSC in Los Angeles and WUNC in Chapel Hill, N.C. She also ran her own consultancy, SR Sound Programming, and shared her expertise with other programmers by running PRPD’s training workshops.
The award honors the legacy of an influential mentor to the founders of PRPD, the late Don Otto — a “proactive, innovative and creative thinker,” said Steve Olson of Audience Research Analysis, announcing the award Sept. 22 [2011].
PRPD and ARA jointly present the award to recognize programmers who have “made public radio better through their creative contributions,” he said.
Rue credited her mother for laying the foundation for her radio career when her family lived in the Azores.
KNIGHT-BATTEN AWARD
NPR social media specialist Andy Carvin received a Knight-Batten Award for innovation in journalism.
Carvin, whose job as the network’s senior social media strategist this year evolved into round-the-clock tweeting of Arab Spring protests, received a Knight Batten Award of Special Distinction honoring his pioneering use of Twitter in newsgathering.
The Knight-Batten awards panel chose Storify as this year’s Grand Prize winner and honored three other innovators with Special Distinction Awards. The panel selects winners for innovative uses of new technologies in newsgathering and civic engagement.
Carvin and his “Twitter community” were both cited for the award. “By using his Twitter account as a newsgathering operation, he has demonstrated how reporting can be done remotely, and created a highly engaged community of more than 50,000 Twitter followers,” said J-Lab in its award announcement.
Special Distinction Awards were also presented to West Africa Democracy Radio, Bloomberg Government and the Texas Tribune.
The Knight Foundation funds the Knight-Batten Awards, which are managed by J-Lab, a unit of American University’s School of Communication. (Current also is an independent unit of the school.)
PUBLIC RADIO NEWS DIRECTORS INC. AWARDS
PRNDI presented its Leo Lee Award to NPR journalist Jonathan Kern.
Kern, a producer and editor of award-winning NPR news coverage who created training programs and authored a book articulating the news organization’s journalistic values and reporting standards, received PRNDI’s highest honor.
The Leo C. Lee Award recognizes significant contributions to public radio news by individuals and organizations. It’s named for the late founder of Western Public Radio, who also shaped public radio’s sound and news values by training young journalists. The award “is never given lightly, and often the subject of many passionate discussions among the PRNDI Board,” said Jonathan Ahl, PRNDI president and Iowa Public Radio news director, who announced the award to Kern during the PRNDI conference this summer.
Kern’s work training journalists for public radio reporting embodies Lee’s spirit and legacy, Ahl said.
Kern began his radio career at Voice of America in 1978, and worked there as a reporter, producer, host, editor and manager. In 1995, he joined NPR as senior editor of All Things Considered. He became the show’s executive producer on Sept. 11, 2001, and shared credit for NPR’s Peabody and duPont-Columbia Awards for coverage of that day’s terrorist attacks.
Kern later established the NPR news training unit that develops and runs classes for NPR staff and station-based public radio journalists. His book Sound Reporting: The NPR Guide to Audio Journalism and Production is used in public radio newsrooms and j-schools across the country. Kern left NPR’s staff in 2009 but continues to work as a contractor training its journalists. In addition to helping print journalists learn radio reporting techniques, he’s developing training workshops around a new NPR ethics handbook commissioned last fall.
PLOS ANGELES PRESS CLUB
KPCC’s Susan Valot and KCRW’s Kim Masters were recognized among best journalists in Los Angeles.
Valot, a reporter who covers Orange County for Pasadena’s KPCC, was lauded by Press Club judges for producing “well-rounded reports with an authoritative, informed tone” and making great use of sound.
Masters, a former NPR correspondent who now covers Hollywood for KCRW in Santa Monica, was named top entertainment journalist. Judges cited her voicing and thorough, substantive reporting on L.A.’s entertainment business.
KPCC’s newsroom won top recognition in four categories of the radio division: for feature reporting by Madeleine Brand and Kristen Muller; entertainment reporting/criticism by Larry Mantle; use of sound by Kevin Ferguson; and the talk/public affairs program Airtalk with Larry Mantle.
Another top radio prize went to Jim Rondeau of KCLU in Thousand Oaks. On the merits of his “conversational yet authoritative newscast,” Rondeau was named top radio anchor.
SoCal Connected, flagship local news program of KCET, won first-place awards in three TV news categories: investigative reporting in “Protected or Neglected,” which examined problems with workplace safety regulation; entertainment reporting in “Celluloid Ceiling,” examining career challenges of female film directors; and talk/public affairs program. Cited for the awards were Bret Marcus, Justine Schmidt, Rick Wilkinson, Judy Muller, Michael Bloecher, Anne Lilburn, Karen Foshay, Vince Gonzales, Lata Pandya and Alberto Arce.
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