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Awards
I was reading a post in the AVID forum from 2008 about the Telly awards. I’ve always had the opinion that they’re not worth a whole lot since you have to pay to submit and then you have to buy your own trophy. I always had the feeling that you’re more or less buying an award, which I can do locally for about $10.
That said, I do have some work I’d like to show someone for consideration of something prestigious… perhaps an Emmy, if they award for non-broadcast production.
Are there any good, legitimate awards out there for video producers that people might Ooh and Aah about if they saw it on my shelf? Any information you can offer about this would be helpful.
KC Allen
Allen Film & Video“My name is actually spelled KC…really…it is…”
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12 Replies
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[Kasey Allen] “I was reading a post in the AVID forum from 2008 about the Telly awards. I’ve always had the opinion that they’re not worth a whole lot since you have to pay to submit and then you have to buy your own trophy. I always had the feeling that you’re more or less buying an award, which I can do locally for about $10. “
The Emmys cost something like $250 to submit and about $300 to purchase the trophy. Don’t really see the difference? I’ve got 13 Emmys to my credit and had to purchase all the certificates. Nobody gives you an award for free, you always pay for them. The Emmys (and Oscars) give away one award, the one that’s handed out, but even that one is paid for through submissions.
I also had to purchase my copy of the Peabody Award. I’d say that one is pretty legit too.
We have something like 25 Telly Awards now and 4 or 6 Aurora Awards. They show that our quality is top notch and you’d be surprised who enters these awards categories. One of my Aurora awards was a winner over something submitted by Dreamworks. Yes THAT Dreamworks.
I’ve also been honored with an “Editing for a Television Series” award from the New York Festivals. Never heard of them until I found out I was nominated and CNN was sending me to New York for the event. Pretty cool to win that one, especially in a craft category.
[Kasey Allen] “Are there any good, legitimate awards out there for video producers that people might Ooh and Aah about if they saw it on my shelf? Any information you can offer about this would be helpful.”
Potential clients definitely notice the awards when they come in the shop. I personally like the Tellys and Auroras. Those have been around the longest outside the Emmys and Oscars.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
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Non on a shelf that I know of.
Even a regional emmy has to be purchased. I have always seen the trophy case as a warning sign. The places I have worked that ahd them displayed were lower end than the places that didn’t have to try to impress with purchased trophies.
Clientele is only impressed if they don’t know any better.
I have to think they are more to impress the neighbors than anything.
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The Regional Emmy’s must’ve changed, because we have them and all we had to pay was the entry fee. We’re members of the ATAS, perhaps that exempts you from paying for the award.
Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com -
GH is right, the thing that should impress your clients is a good reel.
Anyone who has to rely on trophies to try and impress clientele should join SAG.Dual 2.5 G5, IO, Kona LH, IO, Medea Raid, UL4D, NVidia 6800, 4Gig RAM
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Many moons ago when we were a younger company, we won a couple of Cine Golden Eagle awards, and then we got to judge the awards for years after. Some real crap was submitted.
Now it is our reputation and work that gets us more work.
For what it’s worth, I still have my “Most Improved Player” trophy from the track team in high school. You think I should display that in my office? 5:11 for a mile isn’t bad for a skinny kid from the suburbs!
Mike
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Awards can be useful… especially if they are the right awards with the right goal in mind.
We do almost nothing but advertising (broadcast commercials) so we usually have a dozen or so entries in our area’s AdFed awards. We do not enter them to get the pieces of plastic (or glass or metal or wood or whatever the trophies happen to be that year). In fact, they just go in the closet.
Rather, we enter them for two reasons…. firstly, to support our local AdFed chapter, of which we are members. But more importantly, to get our winning work shown to a captive audience of our exact group of potential clients on the big screen at the awards show. Our clients and potential clients are almost exclusively ad agencies, and they are who populate the black tie crowd on awards night. Almost invariably after the awards show some MadMan agency guy will track us down while schmoozing in the venue lobby to say “You guys do great work, have been meaning to call you.” And usually, they do.
For us, it’s just advertising and marketing, pure and simple.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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When my wife joined the company, she asked why the guy across the hall had awards and I didn’t. Same reply “All you’re doing is buying them”. Her reply: “So, Let’s buy some”. We applied and won for two years and quit when we had a wall full of paper and a trophy case full of glass and brass. It is amazing how many people have hired us solely on the award thing. And, I usually tell them exactly why the dates end at 2002. “When the award case filled up, we stopped applying”. They know we were qualified to win them and that we didn’t go overboard. They don’t care about the dates. And we have a wide spread of award types. Also, I never make an issue of them until they ask and even then, I play them down and let the wife brag about them. Kind of a good cop – bad cop sort of thing. Hey, nobody else reads this stuff on the internet, do they?
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1 HD . -
[grinner hester] “The places I have worked that ahd them displayed were lower end than the places that didn’t have to try to impress with purchased trophies. “
If you come to Atlanta and visit Crawford Communications ($85 million facility) and enter their front lobby, the awards are overwhelming. I couldn’t even tell you how many they have, but it’s a ton and there are plenty of Telly and Auroras in there mixed with the more known awards like Emmys.
They are what they are. Recognition of your work and your clients like to see them and receive them. Whenever I enter a piece into an awards contest, I always at least purchase the certificate for the client when they win. They love that.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
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Personally I come down on Grinner’s side. But that’s just as far as our company is concerned. This stems from years of working around copywriters and art directors who thought their sole purpose in life was to win awards.
Cut to kid in his late twenties saying: “Did the spot work? I dunno and don’t care. I just know that ___(trendy thing of the day)___ wins awards.”
On the positive side I have seen that winning awards can have a TREMENDOUS effect on clients. You’re the hero for the day (while saying behind your back that it was their idea all along). Awards are especially important to mid-level people on the client side as they use them as validation for their superiors on what a good job they are doing. Top level people, especially those plugged into sales, usually think awards are nice, but have their focus on results. This is just one of the many reasons I learned to keep the award-hungry types away from meetings with the top people.
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I’ll have to look into that. I’m not from a large town but we have several larger cities within 100 miles that may have AdFeds. You’re right – getting your wares in front of agencies would help my biz a lot.
KC Allen
Allen Film & Video“My name is actually spelled KC…really…it is…”
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