After winning two awards last year, Northwestern News Network is hoping for more success at the 53rd Chicago/Midwest Emmy Awards,earning five nominations for this year’s ceremony.
“Our program is so good that we expect to win an award,” said Medill senior Stephen Boyle, NNN’s sports director.
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences nominated five NNN shows in two categories: College Student Production – Newscast and College Student Production – Sports. NNN’s two sports submissions were the sole nominations in that category.
The awards will be held at Alhambra Palace in Chicago on Nov. 6.
Lawrence Stuelpnagel, NNN’s faculty adviser, brought the news back to the staff after attending the nomination party in Chicago on Tuesday.
“I was quite excited, really delighted,” Prof. Stuelpnagel said.
Medill senior Kayla Stoner co-directed the “Chicago Show,” which garnered one of NNN’s three nominations in the news category.
“This was a very enterprising show,” Stoner said in an email. “We had stories on the education reform bills in the Senate, on gentrification in Pilsen, on the cleanliness of the Chicago River, diversity in dorms … all sorts of stuff.”
Boyle, who is currently working for Sports Illustrated in New York City, said he was not surprised by NNN’s nominations. Because NNN won a national Emmy award for sports reporting in 2008 and news in 2009, Boyle said he is concerned NNN, “took a step backwards.”
Although he is excited about the nomination, Boyle said NNN must continue to focus on consistently producing quality newscasts.
“You have to have a good show every week because that’s your job,” Boyle said.
Stuelpnagel noted professionalism as one of the many qualities that distinguishes NNN from other student news networks.
“We don’t settle for average,” Stuelpnagel said. “We want to be among the best, and there we are.”
