NEW YORK, USA — The Telly Awards, the world’s largest honor for video and television across all screens, has announced its 44th annual winners after a record-breaking year for entries. Winners include some of the most prominent global brands and companies alongside smaller and independent production houses, including Cut+Run, Netflix, Disney Parks, Media.Monks, Paramount, National Geographic Society, and dynastic NBA team the Golden State Warriors.
Founded in 1979 to originally 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 today, work that reflects the trends, issues, and topical matters of each year. This season, the Tellys unveiled categories to better recognize work across Pro Bono and CSR, video journalism, and those pushing boundaries across virtual production.
Among the winners in the new categories, FORTUNE Brand Studio won in Branded Content – General – CSR for its “Feeding America” piece spotlighting Dollar General’s partnership with Feeding America to support those facing food insecurity. Media.Monks took home honors in Use of Motion Capture for their collaboration with GoNoodle, Verizon 5G, and Tua Tagovailoa focused on creating an accessible fitness program for schools. BBC World Service, BBC World News, and Mother Jones all took home honors in Video Journalism for their breakout work and commitment to using video to document human stories from across the globe.
The Telly Awards’ 44th annual edition, “Break through the static,” boasted nearly 13,000 entries from across the globe, the most in a decade, with submissions flowing in from the US, Middle East, UK, and Canada, as well as strong entries from Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and as widespread as Afghanistan, Sweden, New Zealand, Jamaica, and South Africa.
“The caliber of the work this season truly has reflected the theme of breaking out and standing out,” said The Telly Awards Executive Director Sabrina Dridje. “Our industry is experimenting with new technologies like never before, crafting truly compelling stories to draw attention to some of the world’s most pressing issues, and companies big and small are turning to more sustainable practices to break the cycle of past production processes.”
Standout work in animation, social impact, and sustainability was headlined by winners such as National Geographic Society, Sixteen South Studios, a 2D animation studio that co-produces work with partners The Jim Henson Company, as well as Sesame Workshop, the BBC, and Alabama-based The Bending the Arc Project, whose work promotes racial justice and human rights through filmmaking and storytelling.
The Telly Awards also announced Hearst Media Production Group as Telly Company of the Year for the very first time, with television series including Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien and The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation among its winning work.
Along with the awards themselves, The Telly Awards continues to connect with its audience year-round and provide a valuable platform for thought leadership and community. This season’s highlights included the expansion of The Telly Awards global screenings to include the production hub of Atlanta, and a packed panel with partner Green The Bid focused on sustainable production.
Meanwhile, season two of The Telly Awards Podcast made its triumphant return bringing together two leaders from the video and television community with similar expertise in different disciplines, including a candid conversation between Tribeca Enterprises and Alamo Drafthouse. The Telly Awards’ unfiltered, unrehearsed interview series “Hot Takes” also returned with industry experts on hot-button topics, with this year’s programming covering the impact of AI on the animation industry, how to stand out as a freelancer in a crowded market, and the critical work of partner We Are Parable in exhibiting Black Cinema.
The fan favorite, the “People’s Telly Awards,” which were chosen by the public, went to a diversified, solid roster of creative and production talent, from Netflix and MTV Entertainment Studios to Paramount Brand Studio and Sesame Workshop.
