NEW YORK, USA — The Telly Awards, the world’s largest award honoring excellence in video and television across all screens, is embracing the idea of standing out above the rest across the creative landscape by launching its 44th annual call for entries with a simple, yet profound call-to-action: “Break Through the Static.”
Regarding the meaning behind the new campaign slogan, The Telly Awards Executive Director Sabrina Dridje explains, “This year’s theme signifies the industry’s evolution by highlighting the great work emerging from the adoption of new skills, tools, and workflows, as well as new ways of thinking. While this has certainly led to exciting developments, it has also created challenges in distinguishing oneself amidst the surge of output. With this year’s Telly Awards, we want to celebrate creatives who do things their own way and stand out — not blend in.”
Expanding on its mission to highlight and honor the efforts of video and television creators who amplify important social issues within the community, The Telly Awards is rolling out more relevant categories including Corporate Social Responsibility and Pro Bono. The Telly Awards is also recognizing those who have flourished in the ever-changing environment of virtual production by unveiling even more specific Craft categories such as Virtual Art Direction, Use of Motion Capture, and Digital Environments. Documentary and Animation categories will be broken into Long Form, Short Form, and Series to recognize the different approaches these formats require.
To further showcase breakthrough creativity, The Telly Awards is excited to announce the expansion of live in-person screening events, taking place in New York, San Francisco, London, and Atlanta, and featuring work from the likes of The Mill, Gibson, WeTransfer, Square, and more.
To help mark the industry’s transformation and champion those who’ve embraced sustainable and regenerative practices, The Telly Awards has aligned with Green the Bid (GTB), a non-profit grassroots organization that has played an incremental role in helping agencies, brands, production and post companies, as well as independent creatives, increase their levels of sustainability by shifting to zero-waste and carbon-neutral practices. GTB will be collaborating with The Telly Awards on various programming, including a curated panel at SoHo House NYC in November 2022.
In addition to GTB, the new roster of Telly Awards partners include SeriesFest, a non-profit organization that champions and empowers artists at the forefront of episodic storytelling. Like GTB, SeriesFest will also join forces with The Telly Awards on several programming initiatives, including The Telly Awards Podcast, as well as hosting networking and pitching workshops to engage UK creators and an event at its flagship festival in Colorado.
The Telly Awards continues to curate a diverse roster of well-established, highly regarded leaders and innovators across the worlds of advertising, media, and video to serve as judges. This year’s group includes Katie Hinsen, Director of Production Technology at Marvel Studios, Felicia Pride, Executive Producer and Writer of HONEY CHILE (and Producer on Grey’s Anatomy), Kaki Stergiou, Head of Content of Legacy Recordings at Sony Music, Derick Rhodes, Vice President at Vimeo Experts, Nancy Xu, Virtual Production Producer at Epic Games, Fred Volhuer, Co-founder of Atlas V, and Emma Hamilton, Producer and Assistant Director at Marshmallow Laser Feast, a London-based, virtual reality-focused collective.
Along with the awards competition, The Telly Awards is continuing fascinating conversations with the return of The Telly Awards Podcast, in which two guests with similar expertise in different disciplines share their craft, discuss their differences, and find common ground when it comes to storytelling. This year’s enticing lineup of episodes, which will be released through the fall, include Video Journalism vs Cinematic Documentary with Jika Gonzalez from Vice News and Kristy Guevarra-Flannagan of Chuparosa Films, Film Programming for Festivals vs. Cinemas and Sustainability Production Practices: On vs Off Set.
Also continuing this year, Hot Takes — The Telly Awards’ original monthly interview series in which a chosen industry leader and expert offers an unfiltered, unrehearsed response to a hot button topic within their field. The new and improved third season of Hot Takes will include episodes featuring Neil Carty, Head of Cosm Labs on the Impact of True Immersive Media and what new formats it can create for consumers, Ashish Verma, Global Head of Media at Bloomberg Studios on how brands have an opportunity to change the way we see content by developing relationships with their audiences in unprecedented ways, as well as an episode on Sustainability — specifically the implementation, effects, and impact of sustainable practices in video production at a holistic level featuring Becky Morrison, CEO and Founder of The Light.
Founded in 1979 to honor commercials made for cable and local TV, The Telly Awards has continually refreshed its categories to honor the evolving, broad range of work being made — including branded content, social video, animation, and immersive content — working with industry experts to identify categories where new platforms play an increasingly important role in the ways stories are being told.
Last year, The Telly Awards addressed the ever-changing industry landscape by introducing new categories including Workplace Culture, Hybrid Events, Education & Training, Recruitment and Sustainability, and ultimately received over 11,000 entries while seeing an increase in global submissions from Australia, Mexico, across Europe (Germany, Spain, France) and Asia (Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan). Winners included some of the world’s most notable video content producers, including ViacomCBS, Warner Bros. Worldwide TV Marketing, Sony Music Entertainment, Microsoft, ESPN, PBS Digital Studios, Mytonomy, Freethink, Nice Shoes, CTRL5, Feed the Children, Square, Crunchyroll, and Fast Company.
To enter your work in the 44th Annual Telly Awards, head to www.TellyAwards.com. The deadline for early entries is December 9, 2022 (final deadline is February 24, 2023), and the winners will be announced May 23, 2023.
