Emerson Journalists, Filmmakers Take Top Awards at Regional Emmys

Twenty Emerson alumni were named the best of the region at the 49^th Annual Boston/New England Emmy Awards Gala, held Saturday, June 6, at the Marriott Boston Copley Place.

WCVB Channel 5 journalists Maria Stephanos ’89, MA ’92; Mark Reynolds ’84; Jon Rineman ’05, MFA ’25; and Sharman Sacchetti ’93 each took home two Emmys apiece.

Photographer Reynolds was on the team that won the Morning Newscast – Larger Markets category, and shared the award for Breaking/Spot News – Larger Markets with anchor Stephanos, Technical Director Nathan Cory ’07, and others for their coverage of the Karen Read verdict.

Stephanos, Sacchetti, reporter Mike Beaudet ’92, photographer Timothy Devlin ’88, and Assistant News Director Gerry Wardwell ’80, along with several non-alumni colleagues, won for top Evening Newscast – Larger Markets. Sacchetti also won in the Team Coverage category for her reporting on the Brown University shooting manhunt.

And producer Rineman won Emmys in the Light Feature (Single Report) category (“A Reporter’s Quest for Aura”) and in Magazine Program – Single Program or Series (“In the Ring”).

WCVB Executive Producer Ro Dooley-Webster, MA ’87, and Coordinating Producer Ashley Toner ’21 were on the team who won Special Event Coverage – Live for their reporting on Holiday Lights 2025.

WCVB writer/producer Ben Phillippo ’08 and writer Richard Feindel ’09 won for their Promotion – Topical/Image Single Spot, “NewsCenter 5 at 11: Tomorrow Begins Now”.

Other Emersonian winners include:

Boston 25 News photographer/editor Erling Moe ’99 for Continuing Coverage (Karen Read trial)

WBZ reporter David Wade ’95 tied for best News Feature: Serious Feature – Multiple Reports (“Question Everything”).

WCAX (Burlington, Vt.) reporter/anchor Cat Viglienzoni ’11 tied for Environment/Science News (“What Lies Beneath: Deadly Dangers Exposed by Drought”).

Heather Cassano, MFA ’17, director/producer of Connecticut Public Television’s The Wild Girl of Brushvalley Township in the Documentary – Historical category.

Tyler McWilliams ’07, director of growth and strategy for Another Age Productions, for Beyond Medicine: The Story of Boston Community Pediatrics, winner of the Health/Medical – Long Form Content group.

Travis Robertson ’03, co-founder and executive creative director of Colossus, won in Branded Content – Short Form Content for Colossus’ work on behalf of New England Center for Children. (Greg Almeida, MA ’01 is also co-founder and executive creative director of Colossus). 

And NBC 10 commentator Sue O’Connell ’84 tied for best Commentator/Editorialist for her segment, “Sue’s Take.”

Earlier in the year, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) Boston/New England Chapter announced that Global BFA in Film Art major Mayeni Kpenge ’25 received Honorable Mention in the Student Production Awards Fiction category for her film, Babyface, made with the support of School of Film, Television and Media Arts Assistant Professor Malic Amalya.

School of Communication Technology Director Jonathan “Satch” Satriale ’94, MA’09, MA’14 contributed research to this article.