Emerson Claims 20+ Regional Emmys for Broadcast Journalism, Marketing
Reporter Sharman Sacchetti ’93, fourth from left, and assistant news director Gerry Wardwell ’80, second from right, pose with their WCVB colleagues. Photo/Eric Antoniou 
Left to right, Journalist-in-Residence Angela Anderson-Connolly ’90, and Student Production Award winners Faith Pinnow ’25, Avi Sheinberg ’25, Nicholas Antonakas ‘25, Evan Sharrard 25, and Aidan Vahey ’26. Photo/Eric Antoniou 
NESN senior producer Sean Allen ’94, with NESN content producer Kelly Lewicki and his daughter, Emily Allen ’27, center. Photo/Eric Antoniou 
Broadcaster Meredith Vieira, left, winner of the 2025 Governors’ Award, and Ro Dooley Webster, MA ’87, who won for Special Event Coverage. Photo/Eric Antoniou 
Ben Phillippo ’07, left, and Richard Feindel ’09, second from left, with WCVB colleagues, after winning for Non-News Promotional Campaign. Photo/Eric Antoniou
Two dozen Emerson alums took home Boston/New England Emmy Awards Saturday, June 7, for their work on local news broadcasts and promotional spots, with many receiving multiple awards throughout the night.
The ceremony, held at the Marriott Boston Copley Place, opened with a recognition of this year’s Student Production Winners as “the future of journalism.” Multiple Emersonians won Student Production Awards or honorable mentions earlier in the spring.
Read: Eight Emersonians Honored with Local Student ‘Emmys’
Their classmate Danielle DuBois ’25, segment producer of “Boston Globe Today: Breaking Down the Ballot Questions,” had barely graduated from Emerson before picking up a regional Emmy alongside Boston Globe videographer Prince Wang ’23 in the Politics/Government category.
WBZ anchor/reporter David Wade ’95 came out of the evening with three awards: for Light News Feature, Single Report (“EXTRA…EXTRA…Read All About It!”) and Multiple Reports (“Question Everything”), as well as top News Writer in the region.
WCVB reporter Sharman Sacchetti ’93 and assistant news director Gerry Wardwell ’80 each took two awards, sharing the Emmy for Breaking/Spot News – Single Report for their coverage of campus protests with photographers Mark Reynolds ’84 and Ted Phillips ’77. Sacchetti also won in the Breaking/Spot News – Multiple Reports category alongside producer Isabel Indresano ’21 for coverage of a Boston city councilor arrest, and Wardwell won for Team Coverage for WCVB’s treatment of the Boston Celtics’ victory parade.
Julianne Varacchi ’02 and her Connecticut Public Television colleagues won in the Historical Documentary category for Fighting for Home, a documentary on Connecticut’s housing policy and its contribution to segregation, on which she was supervising producer. She also won and in the Lifestyle category for “Trail of Terror,” about a local haunted house, for which she was visuals director.
Ross Lippman ’13 was honored for Arts/Entertainment, both Short Form and Long Form content, for his and his colleagues work at WSBE – Rhode Island PBS. The short form piece was titled “Trash to Trolls,” about an artist who builds trolls from recycled materials, and the long form winner was ART, Inc., a digital series exploring local art.
Sue O’Connell ’85, commentator for NBC 10 Boston, won the top Commentator/Editorialist award for her segment series “Sue Takes Issue”.
And Journalism major Sam Shipman ’27 was the recipient of a College/University Scholarship from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Boston/New England Chapter, the organization that awards regional Emmys. His mother, Mary Saladna, P ’27, a reporter for WCVB, took home her own awards for Team Coverage (Boston Celtics parade) and Reporter – Human Interest/Features
Other Emerson honorees:
WCVB’s Donna Hennessey ’65, director, and Cyana Francis-Berkitt ’19, producer, for Morning Newscast – Larger Markets.
WCVB’s Maria Stephanos ’88, MA ’93, anchor, for Evening Newscast – Larger Markets
Clayton Hainsworth ’01, executive producer of MIT Video Production’s “That Creative Spark: Hands-on learning at MIT’s metal forge,” in the Education/Schools category.
WCVB’s Diana Pinzon ’04, producer, for “Fenway Faithful” in the Informational/Instructional category.
Ro Dooley Webster, MA ’87, WCVB executive producer, and Ashley Toner ’21, programming and communications coordinator, for Special Event Coverage (“Holiday Lights 2024”)
NESN senior producer Sean Allen ’94 for Live Sports Program (Bruins Pre-Postgame).
Luke Fraser ’14, producer of the Boston Red Sox’s 11 Wins. One Team. Two Decades Later. for Sports – One-Time Special.
WCVB producer/editor Richard Feindel ’09 and cinematographer Ben Phillippo ’07 for Promotion – Non-News – Promotional Campaign (128th Boston Marathon).
Creative director Tripp Clemens ’13 in the Branded Content category, for his work on “TRACKed” a project for the MBTA Commuter Rail/Keolis Commuter Services/GYK.
Keith Macri ’05 for Editor – Short-Form Content for his editing work on behalf of the Massachusetts State Lottery.
School of Communication Technology Director Jonathan “Satch” Satriale contributed research to this article.
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