Three staff members with the UNC Charlotte Office of University Communications (UCOMM) recently won an Emmy Award in the category Community/Public Service Campaign at the 33rd annual Midsouth Regional Emmy Awards ceremony in Nashville, Tennessee.
Mark Nunn, Harrison Hieb and Brandon Kirkley ’08, ’10 were recognized for their work on “Niner Nation Gives 2017: Make It the Norm.” The video series supported the University’s annual 49-hour digital fundraising effort. The trio bested entries from television stations WNAB and WTVF, both in Nashville.
Nunn, a TV producer/director, has been with UCOMM’s digital media team since 2004. A cinematographer/videographer, Hieb previously worked with East Tennessee State University and ABC affiliate WKPT. Kirkley, social media manager and UNC Charlotte alumnus, creates and distributes content for a number of the University’s online channels.
UCOMM colleague Steve Reynolds also was nominated for an Emmy in the category Editor/Program for “Fast Cuts in Slow Motion” and for the Community/PSA Spot “Light Rail Connects Us” with Hieb.
Craig Berlin, senior director of digital media communications, said, “Winning our first Emmy Award is a major milestone that acknowledges the outstanding achievements that UCOMM is accomplishing on behalf of the University.”
In addition to the Emmy recognition, the Office of University Communications will receive two Awards of Excellence from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) at its District III conference in Atlanta later this month. The honors recognize informational video spots produced to inform the University community about the 2018 launch of light rail service on campus.
UCOMM also was honored recently by the Higher Education Marketing Report in its annual Education Digital Marketing Awards. The team took the Gold Award in the Streaming Content category for “Origins of Opportunity,” the documentary on the Pride of Niner Nation Marching Band’s journey to Normandy for D-Day commemorations, and a Merit Award for the light rail video campaign.
In the AVA Digital Awards, a competition that includes Fortune 500 corporations, top agencies and numerous nonprofit entrants, UCOMM won three awards for “Origins of Opportunity.” The documentary captured platinum for video editing, gold for cinematography and gold in the video documentary category.