New York Festivals® Television & Film Awards announced the 2019 award-winners at the annual NAB Show in Las Vegas. This ceremony celebrated blockbuster entertainment from 50 countries around the globe.
This year’s Grand winners were:
- “Peaky Blinders” Drama (BBC Two) was recognized for the drama series about the most feared and powerful local gang in 1919 Britain, the Peaky Blinders.
- “30 for 30” Best Nonfiction Series (ESPN) received the Grand for their programs that explore transformational events, issues, games, trends and teams with in the sports sphere.
- “Momentum Generation” Sports (HBO, Priority Pictures, All Rise Films) Filmmakers Jeff & Michael Zimbalist were honored for their documentary that tells the story of the core members of surfing’s most legendary crew.
- “Who?” Camerawork: Promotion/Open & IDs (FOX Networks Group Latin America) The Grand award-winning film starring Darin Cooper as a down on his luck assassin hired to take out Norman Reedus from "The Walking Dead."
- “Mr. Renton” Corporate Social Responsibility NFP (Media Zoo Ltd.) was recognized for their corporate image film created to raise awareness and encourages employees to find better ways of helping vulnerable customers.
For the third consecutive year, Al Jazeera English’s news analysis and investigative programming earned the network the prestigious title of Broadcaster of the Year. The network’s award-winning entries explored a robust number of global topics and garnered an impressive number of medals for programming including Al Jazeera Investigations, Witness, 101 East, Faultlines, People in Power and Earthrise.
Giles Trendle, managing director of Al Jazeera English, said, “Around the globe our journalists work hard to inform and empower people with accurate, impartial and compelling content. It’s not always an easy job and, like other media organizations, we face challenges in the context of increasing attacks on journalists. So, this award represents, for us, a validation from our industry peers of the professionalism of our work and the importance of what we do.”
For an impressive 13th year running, The Edge Picture Company UK earned the title of Production Company of the Year.
Edge owner and EP Phil Blundell, said, “Year in year out The New York Festivals TV & Film Awards proves itself to be the most prestigious international awards festival in our industry. With an ever-increasing standard of creative film making globally, we are honored and truly humbled to be crowned PCOY for an extraordinary 13th year running. On this historic occasion we’d not only like to thank the NYF for this accolade, but to thank our clients for their continued faith in us and of course our talented production teams for their great work which continues to push creative boundaries.”
Fox Networks Group Latin America was recognized with the 2019 Program Promotion Team of the Year Award. The special industry award honors the creative team with the highest scores for entries and largest medal count across all promotion categories and all platforms. The Argentina-based network earned a Grand Award, 6 Gold Medals, 2 Silver, 4 Bronze and 1 Finalist Certificate.
Connor Schell, EVP, content, for ESPN, was recognized with the 2019 New York Festivals® Lifetime Achievement Award. Schell is the executive producer and co-creator of the Emmy, Oscar, and Peabody Award-winning "30 for 30" documentary series and the Emmy-winning "30 for 30" Shorts digital series. Schell was also a recipient of a DuPont Award.
Each year, New York Festivals, in collaboration with the United Nations Department of Public Information, selects entries that exemplify the aims and ideas of the United Nations and honors them with the United Nations Department of Public Information (UNDPI) awards. 2019 UNDPI winners include: “Employable Me” (Factual) was honored with the Gold UNDPI Award; “Hope & Fury MLK, The Movement and The Media” (NBC News) earned the Silver Award; and “Displaced” (Voice of America) was awarded the Bronze UNDPI Award. To view the complete list of 2019 award-winning entries, click here.
Notable Gold winning documentaries include “Attenborough´s Ant Mountain” (Terra Mater Factual Studios), “NOVA Wonders” (NOVA), “Sharkwater Extinction” (Sharkwater Productions), “The Lost Tapes: Malcolm X “(1895 Films/Smithsonian), and “The Circus” (WGBH).
Primetime entertainment earning Gold: “The Durrells” (Sid Gentle Films), "El Recluso" (NBCUniversal International/Telemundo), “KURARA: The Dazzling Life of Hokusai’s Daughter” (NHK ENTERPRISES, Inc. for NHK), and Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch” and “Naked and Afraid.”
Sports entries scoring Gold include: “MLB Network Presents: Only In Hollywood” (MLB Network), Andre the Giant” (WWE/HBO Sports), “Al Jazeera Investigations – Football’s Wall of Silence” (Al Jazeera Media Network), “SEC Storied: Rowdy Gaines.” (ESPN) and “Game On 2.0 Campaign” (beIN SPORTS),
Promos earned top honors, Gold Medalists include: ”Patrick Melrose: London Calling" (Showtime Networks, Inc.), “MTV’s +1 the Vote Anthem” (MTV), “This Is CBS News” (CBS), “Elsa and Sarah” (ABS-CBN Channel 2) and “BBC Earth Launch New Zealand” (BBC Earth Launch New Zealand).
Companies creating award-winning corporate image films include: The Edge Picture Company, Media Zoo Ltd., MerchantCantos, Sonova AG, Rivelty, and Seed-Audio Visual Communications AG.
NYF’s TV & Film Awards Grand Jury, of prominent international broadcast and film industry executives, awarded trophies to content creators across all platforms and in all genres. For 2019, 175 Gold World Medals, 172 Silver World Medals and 181 Bronze World Medals were awarded.
