HighSchoolOT Honors Inaugural Awards Ceremony A Touchdown, Homerun and Slam Dunk

Capitol Broadcasting Company expanded its high school football coverage in the fall of 2016 with “HighSchoolOT Live” and this summer expanded yet again with the first High School OT awards program. The winners were crowned at the HighSchoolOT Honors ceremony on Saturday, June 23, 2018, at the Duek Energy Performing Arts Center in downtown Raleigh.

“The inaugural High School OT Honors Awards took place tonight, and what an evening it was honoring top high school athletes, coaches, marching bands, and fan,” said WRAL-TV Assignment Editor Kelly Riner, who produces “HighSchoolOT Live”. “A ton of work went into the project for months; now we celebrate! Great job by everyone across multiple divisions of Capitol Broadcasting Company who came together to make the evening possible.”

WRAL-TV Sports Anchor Jeff Gravley and HighSchoolOT.com Senior Editor Nick Stevens hosted the program, naming winners in dozens of categories including male & female athletes of the year, male & female coaches of the year and team of the year.

“Almost a year of planning by countless colleagues went into this inaugural @highschoolot event,” said WRAL.com General Manager John Conway. “Panthers LB Thomas Davis and Susan Scott, sister of the late Stuart Scott, had strong messages for the student-athletes and their parents. I couldn’t be more proud of the team.”

“HighSchoolOT Honors was a big idea that that required intensive planning and ongoing communication,” said NMG Marketing Manager/Event Producer Laura Worthington. “It was a rewarding experience, not just because of the stories we were able to tell about student athletes and coaches, but the level of cross-divisional collaboration was truly inspiring. On the night of the event, we had close to 50 CBC employees on hand to support, including Wool E. Bull! Thanks to everyone who worked on the project or just offered kind words of support along the way!”

HighSchoolOT Honors launched in mid-March with a nomination period for the best in central and eastern North Carolina high school sports. Finalists in were announced in April, and nearly 50,000 votes were cast through the middle of May! The June 23 ceremony was the culmination of Honors, but the event required a great deal of collaboration across CBC New Media, WRAL-TV and CBC Radio across design, marketing & promotions, content, production, sales and fulfillment.

Thanks to WRAL-TV’s Kelly Riner, NMG’s Laura Worthington and photographer Suzie Wolf for these capcom photos.