Ball State Sports Link announced its Transatlantic Storytelling project has been named a Silver Winner in Student Television at the 42nd Annual Telly Awards.
The honor marks the third international award Sports Link and Cardiff Met Sport TV have received for the global storytelling project.
The 76-minute feature documentary earned the top honor at the 2021 International MUSE Awards in May, plus earned a Silver Award of Distinction in the 2021 Communicator Awards.
The Telly Awards honors excellence in video and television across all screens and is judged by leaders from video platforms, television, streaming networks, production companies and including Netflix, Dow Jones, Duplass Brothers Productions, Complex Networks, A&E Networks, Hearst Media, Nickelodeon, ESPN Films, RYOT, Partizan and Vimeo.
“In the face of a year like no other, Ball State Sports Link has continued to defy the limitations of our new world, in continuing to create compelling and engaging work”, says Telly Awards Executive Director Sabrina Dridje. “This year’s submissions doubled down on what we already know about the industry. Creativity cannot be stopped. Collaboration will always prevail. New ideas and stories will always find a way to break through to an audience.”
The 2021 winners announcement caps a year-long celebration of creators defying the limitations by embracing platforms to increase awareness about injustices and promote solidarity for movements, as well as geographical, like developing fully remote pipelines for dispersed teams.
This year also saw the continued expansion of new categories to reflect and celebrate new forms of producing work in light of the past months restrictions and limitations. New categories included Remote Production, Virtual Events & Experiences and an increase in animation categories.
Last year, The Telly Awards attracted more than 12,000 entries from top video content producers including Adobe, Adult Swim, the BBC, Condé Nast, J. Paul Getty Museum, PBS, Playstation, RadicalMedia, T Brand Studio, Ogilvy & Mather and The Walt Disney Company.
The full list of the 42nd Annual Telly Awards winners can be found at www.tellyawards.com/winners.
The groundbreaking documentary features seven exclusive stories, with 22 different interviews, and stunning visuals from throughout Cardiff and Wales.
- Sam Gordon is the fastest man in Wales, owning multiple records and sprinting towards the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Though always smiling, the elite runner’s surge into the spotlight hasn’t come without setbacks.
- Jenny Nesbitt represents Great Britain and Wales as a talented distance runner. But, as a teenager, the world class athlete faced serious threats to her success
- Harrison Walsh, who after a horrific rugby injury ended his promising career, shifted his focus. Now, the world-record holding thrower is aiming for the 2021 Paralympic Games.
- Will Godwin is a student at Cardiff Met, who started his athletic career as a triathlete and rower until two freak accidents changed his life.
- Sam Pearce, the Cardiff Met student and captain of the cricket team, is also on the verge of a professional career in one of the world’s most popular sports.
- Lydia Hitchings, a student in Cardiff Met’s School of Art and design, grew up playing netball. Now, a professional player, she has a goal of playing in the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
- Dr. Christian Edwards is the men’s soccer coach at Cardiff Met and guided his team to the 2019 UEFA Europa League. Six months later, he collapsed on the pitch.
About The Project:
Transatlantic Storytelling is an immersive learning, global storytelling project between students at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana and Cardiff Metropolitan University in Cardiff, Wales.
Ball State students collaborated with Cardiff Met students on identifying, developing and producing feature stories on Welsh athletes.
While on the ground in Cardiff, Wales, for 12 days in late February to March, students worked together to capture footage, scenes and interviews with the athletes.
In 2019, Ball State and Cardiff Met agreed to a five-year understanding which recognizes the mutual benefits of an educational partnership, which in part will lead to collaboration, opportunities and faculty/student engagement.
Additional Media Information:
For media outlets, tv stations and other platforms wishing to air the documentary at no charge, please contact Joe Towns from Cardiff Met (JTowns@cardiffmet.ac.uk) or Chris Taylor from Ball State (ctaylor@bsu.edu).
Additional information, including student blogs, athlete blogs, photo galleries and video can be found at www.transatlanticstorytelling.com.