Emersonians Have Good Night at New England Emmys

Seventeen Emerson alums and one faculty member took home awards from the 47th Boston-New England Emmy Awards on Saturday, June 8, in a ceremony held at the Boston Copley Marriott, where several student journalists for WEBN also were honored for their work.

WCVB anchor Maria Stephanos ’89, MA ’93, P’19 was part of a team that won three regional Emmys for local reporting. Stephanos, reporter Sharman Sacchetti ’93, and photographer Timothy Devlin ’88 won Evening Newscast (Larger Markets) for their coverage of the Leominster (Mass.) flood emergency. Stephanos and Devlin also were on the team that tied in the Continuing Coverage category for the Leominster flood story. And Stephanos tied in the Serious Feature (Multiple Reports) category for “Pedro Goes Home.”

NBC 10 Boston’s Sue O’Connell ’84 won in the Commentator/Editorialist category for her segment, “Sue Takes Issue,” and was on the team that won in the Special Event Coverage category for their coverage of the 2023 Boston Pride for the People parade.

Other individual winners include WCVB’s Mike Beaudet ’92, who won Investigative Reporter; WBZ-TV news anchor David Wade ‘95, who won News Writer; and NBC 10 Boston managing editor Abbey Niezgoda ’11, who took Short Form Content Writer.

Anchor Latoyia Edwards ’98, along with her NBC 10 Boston team, tied for a Diversity/Equity/Inclusion award for “Embrace the Kings,” which Edwards hosted.

Producer Cyana Francis-Berkitt ’19 was one of six WCVB journalists who won Morning Newscast (Larger Markets) for the October 26, 2023 broadcast of NewsCenter 5 EyeOpener.

WCVB producer/reporter Nicole Estaphan, MA ’06 was on the team that tied for Sports News Feature for “The Boston Bruins: Blood, Sweat, Tears and 100 Years.” She also was on the team that tied for Informational/Instructional Report for “AI: A Generative Generation.”

And actor Denis Leary ’79, LHD ’05 grabbed a regional Emmy for Sports Program – Post-Produced or Edited, as narrator/writer on Behind the B, “The Fenway Winter Classic,” produced by the Boston Bruins/Mad Fish Productions.

Other winners:

James Aberdale ’98, supervising producer of Celtics/live events, joined his NBC Sports Boston teammates in winning Live Sports Program for the Celtics Pregame Live.

WCVB producer/editor Richard Feindel ’09 was on the team that won Non-News Program Promotional for a spot on the 127th Boston Marathon.

Adam Fischer ’01 was the director of The Katz Tapes, which won for Historical Documentary.

WCVB operations manager Collin Florence ’08 and producer Nick Terry ’03 shared an Emmy for Live Sporting Event/Game for the station’s broadcast of the 127th Boston Marathon.

Julianne Varacchi ’03, visuals director for Connecticut Public Television, was on a team that tied for Education/Schools reporting for “Teen Chefs, Big Dreams.”

Journalism affiliated faculty member and Boston Globe producer/editor Randy Vazquez won Health/Medical – Long Form Content for “Cystic fibrosis drug Trikafta helps most but not all.”

Student Journalists Honored

Molly Dougherty ’25, Callie Krosin ’25, and Sofia Mendes ’24, executive producers of “WEBN Political Pulse presents ‘Road to the White House,’” won in the Public Affairs/Community Service category.

WEBN reporter Payton Cavanaugh ’25 won News or Sports Talent. Dougherty and reporter Claire Overton ’24 earned Honorable Mention in the category.

Overton also earned Honorable Mention in the Multimedia Journalist category for her piece, “Behind the Scenes of Super Bowl LVII’s Historic Flyover.”

The WEBN Live Holiday Show 2023 took Honorable Mention in the News Report – Light News category. The show was created by Cavanaugh, news director and executive producer; and executive producers Erin Palacios ’25, Hannah Shemtov ’24, Drake Skelly ’24, and Kerin Tsui ’24.

Producers Nicholas Antonakas ’25 and Jacob Smith ’25 earned Honorable Mention for Sports Program with “Emerson College Soccer Success.”

SOC Technology Director Jonathan “Satch” Satriale contributed research to this article.