The Nashville/MidSouth Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the 32nd annual Emmy Awards on Saturday, January, 20, 2018, and WRAL-TV, FOX 50 and WRAL.com came home with eight top honors. The statuettes were presented in an evening ceremony in Nashville, TN.
A number of CBC staffers attended to accept the honors which included nods for promotions, a documentary, a consumer report, the station’s first digital-only series, and another one of CBC’s ground-breaking community awareness campaigns. WRAL-TV Lead Designer & Animation Specialist Shan Zhong won the Graphic Arts category for the second year in a row.
WRAL-TV’s first award of the evening came for Community/Public Service (PSA) Campaign with the station’s Project No Rest, which worked to raise awareness of human trafficking.
“This past year because of the efforts of many and the expansive reach of these PSAs that was made possible by a grant from the North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission, the number of survivors of human trafficking in North Carolina calling the national human trafficking hotline increased 33%,” said FOX 50 Director of Local and New Media Sales Niel Sollod, who accepted the award on behalf of CBC. “That means more people are getting assistance and are connecting with resources.”
CBC’s Audience Development won the Entertainment Emmy for its first WRAL.com Original Series, “Bitty & Beau’s: Beyond the Coffee Shop.”
“We wanted to prove we could get people to binge watch a digital only series on WRAL.com, unique content they aren’t used to getting on a local news website,” said CAD General Manager Shelly Leslie. “We produced a 6-episode short form story that told a narrative throughout or could be viewed only by episode. We included bonus material so people who invested time in the series got extra. We’re very happy with our results and look forward to building on that success. I’m very proud of the storytelling and the partnership with the CBC New Media Content team. In addition to production team, Jodi Glusco and Wendy Gatlin were critical in getting the series launched and helping viewers find it through social media.”
All of the CBC winners are:
COMMUNITY/PUBLIC SERVICE (PSA) CAMPAIGN
Project No Rest – Elizabeth Kline, Niel Sollod, Christian McIlwain, Walter Nelson, David Sweeney, Brad Schaible, WRAL-TV
PROMO SPOT/NEWS
WRAL Investigates: Daycare Ratings – Justin Arner, WRAL-TV
PROMO SPOT/PROGRAM
Family Feud CAN CAN – Marc Derro, FOX 50
PROMO SPOT/IMAGE
WRAL Documentary: Black & Blue – Jay Yovanovich, Shelly Leslie, Shan Zhong, Justin Arner, WRAL-TV
DOCUMENTARY/TOPICAL
Black and Blue – Clay Johnson, Jay Jennings, Shan Zhong, Gerald Owens, WRAL-TV
BUSINESS/CONSUMER REPORT
Low E Windows – Monica Laliberte, Jennifer Sorber Smith, David McCorkle, WRAL-TV
ENTERTAINMENT
WRAL.com Original: Bitty & Beau’s Beyond the Coffee Shop – Shelly Leslie, Jillian Knight, Anita Normanly, Hannah Webster, WRAL-TV/CBC Audience Development
GRAPHIC ARTS
Shan Graphic Arts Composite – Shan Zhong, WRAL-TV
The full list of nominees and winners can be found here: http://emmynashville.org/awards/
Watch the archived live stream of the awards telecast here: https://livestream.com/accounts/276754/32ndemmys
Thanks to NMG’s Dave Sweeney, FOX 50’s Niel Sollod and WRAL-TV’s Ken Smith for these capcom photos.