2012 International Digital Emmy Awards Winners Announced

MIPTV-Cannes, April 1, 2012 – The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced tonight the winners of the International Digital Emmy® Awards at a ceremony organized in partnership with Reed Midem and attended by over 300 international executives from the television, broadband and mobile industries.

SHUJAAZ FM (Well Told Story), a multi-media communications project, designed to inspire and motivate millions of Kenyans to take action to improve their lives and engage with urgent issues that shape their future, garnered the first Digital Emmy Award for Kenya by winning the Children & Young People category.

Endgame Interactive: Facebook Episode (Secret Location/Shaw Media/Thunderbird Films), a transmedia episode created to extend the Showcase television drama Endgame online, won the Fiction category. Live from The Clinic (Maverick Television for Channel 4), a medical series enabling viewers to apply through the show’s website to be seen live over webcam during transmission by the show’s resident doctors and leading specialists, won the Non-Fiction category.

“This year’s winners have masterfully woven social media into the fabric of their programs, “said Bruce L. Paisner, President & CEO of The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. “We congratulate them on their boundary-breaking.”

2012 INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL EMMY® AWARDS WINNERS

Digital Program: Children & Young People

SHUJAAZ.FM

Well Told Story (Kenya)

Shujaaz.FM is a multi-media communications project, designed to inspire and motivate millions of Kenyans to take action to improve their lives and engage with urgent issues that shape their future. Shujaaz is delivered simultaneously across multiple interactive channels to inform and involve Kenyans starved of opportunities and eager to build better futures for themselves. Shujaaz.FM follows the lives of four young Kenyans. The star is Boyie, who’s built a pirate radio station in his bedroom from which he broadcasts his show Shujaaz.FM as DJ B. The other characters are fans of his show and call-in with stories and ideas for him to share. Together they reveal tried and tested ideas about making money, growing up, entrepreneurship, and democracy.

Digital Program: Fiction

Endgame Interactive: Facebook Episode

Secret Location / Shaw Media / Thunderbird Films (Canada)

Endgame Interactive is a transmedia episode created to extend the Showcase television drama Endgame online. The audience participates in an interactive mystery where they take on the main role in the narrative, which is populated with information from their Facebook account. Fans interact with the cast, search for clues, question suspects, and unravel the mystery in a cinematic and personal experience. The episode seamlessly integrates elements of the viewers Facebook profile into the video and places the users friends at the center of a kidnapping mystery. The online experience is built on a platform that builds social media directly into the story, posting cryptic messages to viewer’s Facebook accounts and weaving the need to share the content right into the story’s conclusion. The objective was to draw the audience into the Endgame show world with an immersive experience and create a direct interaction with Arkady Balagan, the charismatic star of the show. By joining Balagan’s band of investigators, users experienced the show content through online video and casual gaming elements in a new and unique way.

Digital Program: Non-Fiction

Live from the Clinic

Maverick Television for Channel 4 (United Kingdom)

Live from the Clinic was broadcast on Channel 4, relying largely on online presence. Viewers applied through the show’s website to be seen live over webcam during transmission by the show’s resident doctors and leading specialists. On the website, these cases were made available as interactive videos, allowing users to create a shopping basket of resources most applicable to them, which they could then email to themselves. As the shows aired, users were encouraged to ‘play along’ using My Healthchecker, taking 19 tests related to subjects across the series, ranging from Dyslexia, OCD, Autism, and ADHD, to BMI, Body Fat Percentage, and Diabetes. Along with receiving detailed feedback and advice, users could compare their results anonymously with others. My VideoDoctor, an interactive video product, allowed users to receive a personalised consultation based on their symptoms from the show’s doctors.

This is an excerpt. Click here to read the full release from the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.