New York Festivals® International Television & Film Awards  honoring the World’s Best TV & Films℠ announced the 2016 Finalists. NYF’s Grand Jury comprised of prominent broadcast and film industry experts selected this year’s Finalists from entries submitted from 48 countries around the globe.

“Once again, Finalists engaged audiences world-wide with their innovative storytelling,” said Rose Anderson, Executive Director, New York Festivals Television & Film Awards. “The wide variety of high quality programming and the breadth of platforms our submissions encompass  demonstrate how incredibly robust  today’s landscape really is – in drama, journalism, sports, comedy, documentary, image and events!”

The 2016 NYF TV & Film Awards competition saw ESPN leading the way with a total of 37 entries achieving Finalist status, Channel NewsAsia (MediaCorp) was next with 24 Finalists, and The Edge Picture Company UK saw a total of 20 entries move on to the medal round.

ESPN’s powerhouse of Finalists included special event coverage and sport journalism programming that explored a wide variety of topical subjects. ESPN’s Outside the Lines examination of critical issues saw multiple entries move on to the medal round including: “Revisiting Donnovan Hill,” “Transgender Sports Policy” The Death of Lennon Lacy,” “Pete Rose Report,” and “College Athletes and Crime.” SportsCenter, ESPN’s flagship series saw multiple entries achieve Finalist status including: “Miraculous: The Austin Hatch Story,” “Lauren Hill: One More Game,” “Isaiah Bird: No Excuses,” and “At the Top of the World.”  Additional Finalists include: “Monday Night Football Open,” “2015 NFL Draft Tease,” “2015 Indianapolis 500 Tease,” “Special Olympics Opening Ceremony Tease,” and “2015 Scripps National Spelling Bee Tease.”

Other sports programming scoring Finalist status include: “2015 FIFA Women's World Cup” Fox Sports; “MLB Network Presents: Billy Bean” MLB Network; “SI Now: 500 Miles and the Voices of Winning” Time Inc. Studios; and “Grand National Opener 2015” Evoke Films.  Entries advancing in the Sports and Recreation category include: “LA Kings: 2014 Stanley Cup Moments” Los Angeles Kings; “Pitch Battle” Mint Pictures; “Paddle for the North” Monsoon Pictures International Ltd.; “Patagonia Eric Jones & Ioan Doyle” S4C; “The Bucket List” San Francisco 49ers; “Pursuit of Champions- Tao Li” Threesixzero Productions  Pte. Ltd.; “Planeta Extremo” TV Globo; and “The Fitness Age People” BBC Persian Service- BBC World Service.  In addition, MLB Network’s “Studio 21” moved on to the medal round in the Best Innovation category.

With over 2 dozen documentaries categories, long form programming entries advancing to the medal round included: “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History” Florentine Films/Ken Burns; “Racing Extinction” Discovery; “Humpback Whales” MacGillivray Freeman Films. Terra Mater Factual Studios GmbH and MediaLinks TV, CCTV-America each saw a robust 11 entries move on to the medal round.  Other companies with entries achieving Finalists: Interspot Film GmbH; Testimony Films; RTE Television Dublin, Beach House Pictures; KBS; NHK; Channel One Russia; DW-Deutsche Welle; WDR - WESTDEUTSCHER RUNDFUNK KOLN; Fuji Television Network, Inc.; Fox International Channels Latin America; NOVA-WGBH; Nature; Radio Free Europe; and RTVE.

Climate Change & Sustainability, new in 2016, saw multiple Finalists advance: “The Disappearing Delta /Fault Lines” and “Running Dry / Fault Lines” both for Al Jazeera America; “The Moose Detective” federvieh - De Groot Germany; “On Thin Ice: The People of the North” MediaLinks TV, CCTV-America; and “Te Mana o te Moana - The Pacific Voyagers” Zoomslide New Zealand.

Prime Time entertainment entries advancing: “A Capitol Fourth 2015” and “2015 National Memorial Day Concert” for Capital Concerts, Inc. USA; “De Tiende van Tijl” for Night of Comedy Netherlands; and ““Game of Thrones” Histories & Lore Animated Short” HBO; “Under the Radar” WDR - WESTDEUTSCHER RUNDFUNK KOLN; “UnREAL” Lifetime; “Method” Channel One Russia; “Y Gwyll / Hinterland” S4C; and The King of Mask Singer” MBC (Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation) South Korea.  

The spotlight was on mini-Series entries, Finalists include: “Sons of Liberty” and “Texas Rising” for History; “TUT” for Spike; “Battle for Sevastopol” FILM.UA Ukraine; “Ilustrado” GMA Network, Inc.;  Philippines; “The Trials of Jimmy Rose” and “Midwinter of the Spirit” ITV Studios; “SHADES OF GUILT - The Festival” MOOVIE GmbH Germany; and “Old Money” Superfilm Filmproduktions GmbH Austria.

Telenovelas entries from Telemundo Network and SP Televisão, S.A. were propelled to the medal round including: “Bajo el Mismo Cielo,” “La Querida del Centauro,” and “Señora Acero 2” for Telemundo Network USA; and SP Televisão S.A. Portugal‘s “Heart of Gold” and “Salty Sea.”

Streaming programming earning Finalist status in multiple areas includes: Hulu’s “Difficult People” achieving Finalist status three categories, Comedy, Best Writing and Best Performance by an Actress, and “Casual” advancing with entries in Comedy, Best Writing, and Best Direction. Other online Finalists include:{The And} The Skin Deep; “The Artist Project” The Metropolitan Museum of Art; “quart de vie (25-something)” Radio-Canada; “#Auschwitz70” Fusion Media Network; and “Data Attack” Conde Nast Entertainment.

Network News addressed the critical issues in today’s headlines, international networks  with entries advancing include: ABC-TV, Foreign Correspondent; Al Jazeera English; Al Jazeera Network; Antenna 3 Television; CANAL 13 ARTEAR S.A.; CNN; CNBC Asia Pacific ; Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; GloboNews;  SPIEGEL TV GmbH; Global News 16x9 ; NHK; RT America; and WDR - WESTDEUTSCHER RUNDFUNK KOLN.

Prime Time Promos moving on to the next round include NBC Entertainment Finalists: The Wiz Live! “Voice,” The Voice "Virtual Reality,” “The Voice “Epic” and Blacklist “Chaos.” Additional networks with Finalists include; “Wolf Hall” and “Banished” for BBC; “Earth is Yours” BBC Worldwide Asia;“The Missing - Finale Episodic “ and “Outlander Character Campaign” for Starz; “The Walking Dead: Shadows” AMC/ Bacon & Sons Film Co.; “Join or Die” History/Bacon & Sons Film Co; “Ray Donovan: California Dreamin'” Showtime Networks; “Jurassic Park” for NBC UNIVERSAL GLOBAL NETWORKS DEUTSCHLAND GMBH;  “Lucky Ladies” Fox International Channels Latin America  and “SHAMY” for Turner Broadcasting System. In addition, CBS News; The Walt Disney Company Latin America; and StarHub saw entries advancing.

Channel NewsAsia (MediaCorp) had 24 entries advance in multiple categories including Current Affairs, Documentaries, Docudrama; History & Society, Nature & Wildlife, Science & Technology, Social Issues and more. Finalists include:  “Ebola Diary,” “The Worlds of Georgette Chen,” “Sumatra's Last Tigers,” and “Undercover Asia - The Organ Bazaar.”

Numerous corporate image films advanced to the next round. The Edge Picture Company Limited saw a staggering 20 entries advance as Finalists including:  “Crossing Over,” “Make the Difference,” “Pride in Service,” and “Where Energy is Opportunity.” The following internationally known production companies saw entries achieve Finalist status: Norvell Jefferson; Avaus; A Hundred Years ; Kunde & Co ; PineRock Productions; Radley Yeldar; Frische Brise Film; Kemper Kommunikation GmbH; 1Camera ; MerchantCantos; OPIUM effect GmbH; Psona Films; Red Ant Productions as; RT; Resonate Pictures, INC.; SCHOKOLADE Filmproduktion GmbH; STARK Corporate Communication AB; and White Rain Films.

All Entries submitted to the 2016 TV & Film Awards competition were judged online and screened by New York Festivals Television & Film Awards Grand Jury of 200 plus producers, directors, writers, and other creative media professionals from around the globe. To view the 2016 Finalists click: Here.

The 2016 Television & Film Awards gala will take place at the annual NAB Show in Las Vegas on April 19th, 2016. This official partnership with NAB Show, now in its sixth year, showcases the competition to more than 103,000 media and entertainment professionals from 164 countries, including 1,614 industry press representatives, and over 1,700 exhibiting companies. For tickets to the 2016 NYF Television and Film Awards Gala and more information click: Here.

About New York Festivals
New York Festivals organizes advertising and programming competitions for the following brands:

AME Awards World's Best Advertising & Marketing Effectiveness℠

The Global Awards World's Best Healthcare & Wellness Advertising℠
Midas Awards World's Best Financial Advertising℠
New York Festivals World's Best Advertising℠

New York Festivals World's Best Radio Programs℠
New York Festivals World's Best TV & Films℠

Entries to each of the competitions are judged around the world by panels of peers in their respective industries. For more information, go to www.newyorkfestivals.com.

About the 2016 NAB Show
NAB Show, held April 16-21, 2016 in Las Vegas, is the world's largest electronic media show covering filmed entertainment and the development, management and delivery of content across all platforms. With more than 103,000 attendees from 160+ countries and 1,750+ exhibitors, NAB Show is the ultimate marketplace to the solutions that transcend traditional broadcasting and embrace content delivery to new devices in new ways. For complete details, visit www.nabshow.com