Emersonians Have Big Night at Local Emmys

More than two dozen Emerson alumni, students, and faculty were honored by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) Saturday, June 15, at the Boston-New England Emmy Awards, held in Boston.

WCVB Channel 5 anchor Ed Harding ’75 led the Emerson contingent with three local Emmys.

Harding won best News Anchor, and was part of a team that included anchor Maria Stephanos ’88, assistant news director Gerry Wardwell ’80, producer Nick Terry ’03, and reporter Kelli O’Hara, an affiliated faculty member in the Journalism Department, that won in the Breaking News category for coverage of explosions in the Merrimack Valley. Harding, Stephanos, and Wardwell also were on the team that won for Continuing Coverage Within 24 Hours for the same story.

Mike Beaudet ’92 led one of two investigative teams from WCVB that tied in the Investigative Report category. Beaudet also was part of a team that took home News Specialty Report, Politics/Government for “5 Investigates: Government Spending and Politics.”

Boston 25 News director Michael Finnerty ’89 was on the team that won Continuing Coverage, No Time Limit for reporting on the Merrimack Valley explosions. Boston 25’s Erling Moe ’99 was a photographer on the “Burden of the Badge,” which took home an Emmy in the Societal Concerns Program/Special category.

WBZ anchor/reporter David Wade ’95 worked on “The Road Back Home,” which won best News Report – Serious Series.

Dustin Wlodkowski ’14, host/reporter for News Center Maine, won best News Report – Light Series for his “Maine by the Mile.”

In the Education/Schools category, Connecticut Public Television executive producer Carol Sisco, MA ’87, was on the winning team with “At Wonder’s Peak: Discovering Science on Talcott Mountain.”

In the sports reporting categories, Luke Frasier ’14, a producer for the Boston Red Sox, worked on “Red Sox Report the Final Step: The World Series,” which tied for best Sports Series.

NBC Sports Boston supervising producer Jim Aberdale ’98 worked on “Anything Is Possible: The Story of the 2008 Celtics,” which won best Sports – One-Time Special.

RDW Group’s Eric Latek ’98 was director of photography/editor on “The Ripple Effect,” which won in the Community/Public Service Campaign category. And writer Greg Almeida ’00 and art director Travis Robertson ’03 shared best Commercial for the Boston Bruins’ “The Diehards.”

NATAS also presents Boston/New England Student Awards for Excellence, of which Emerson students and/or teams took home three top prizes and four Honorable Mentions.

Tristan Flanagan ’19 took home Best Director for his direction of the 37th Annual EVVY Awards, and Chloe Teboe ’18 won Best Talent on the strength of her reporting reel for WEBN.

WEBN executive producers Kayla LaRosa ’20, Justin Pham ’21, and Angel Salcedo ’21 won Best College/University Magazine Program with WEBN Presents: “The Road to Spring Training: Red Sox Truck Day,” which Salcedo hosted. The Emerson Channel’s Good Morning Emerson, executive produced by Kimberly Wilborn ‘19 and Danielle Miller ’21, won Honorable Mention in the category.

Wilborn also won Honorable Mention for her story on aging video gamers in the General Assignment – Light News category.

In the Newscast category, the team of Pham (executive producer), LaRosa (producer), Brian Danuff ’20 (executive producer), Tyler Englander ’21 (executive producer), Jia-Yun Law ’19 (director), and graduate student Spencer Kosior (producer) took Honorable Mention for WEBN-TV Special Presentation: “2018 World Series Victory Parade”.

Lauren Granada ’20 earned Honorable Mention for “A Real Life Superman” in Short Form – Nonfiction.