Tennessee WildSide Wins Emmy Award
Tennessee’s Wild Side, the outdoor adventure program produced by The Renaissance Center and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, was named Best Magazine Show at the 21st annual Midsouth Regional Emmy Awards presented Saturday night, January 27, in Nashville.
Produced through an educational grant from TWRA, Tennessee’s Wild Side is a family oriented outdoor adventure program featuring outdoor sporting and recreation activities, wildlife conservation, and human interest stories. The program airs on Public Broadcasting Stations across Tennessee, Kentucky Educational Television, and the iLifetv cable channel.
“We’re really pleased that Tennessee’s Wild Side has been recognized again for its quality and value to the viewers,” said Gary Myers, Executive Director of the TWRA. “The TV program has allowed our agency the opportunity to tell important stories relating not only to hunting, fishing, and wildlife watching, but also the importance of conservation of our wildlife, its habitat, and our land and water.”
It marks the second time Tennessee’s Wild Side won the award and its third Emmy overall since debuting in September 2000. The program also was named Best Outdoor Television Show in North America by the Association for Conservation Information in July 2005 and won the Communicator of the Year award from the Tennessee Wildlife Federation.
“Tennessee’s Wild Side shows us what can be accomplished when the public and private sectors join forces with a common goal,” said Doug Jackson, executive director of The Renaissance Center. “With the educational grant and wildlife expertise of the TWRA combined with the talent and production capabilities of the center, we can produce a program that is entertaining and educational for everyone who loves the outdoors. We make a great team and it takes tremendous support from both sides.”
“Tennessee’s Wild Side is an important tool our agency uses to inform and inspire the public,” said TWRA’s Chief of Information and Education, Don King. “It provides us a great opportunity to showcase the tremendous efforts of our agency’s dedicated staff on a weekly basis.”
“Tennessee’s Wild Side continues to be a shining example of the quality work being produced at The Renaissance Center,” said Steve Hall, the center’s Multimedia director and managing producer of Tennessee’s Wild Side. “From the field to the studio to post production, our team at The Renaissance Center is a dedicated group of professionals who work extremely hard on every project. We are very happy to once again be recognized by our peers in the television production industry.”
The Midsouth Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) includes all television stations in Tennessee, North Carolina (except Asheville) and the Huntsville, Alabama, market. Its 21st annual awards drew nearly 700 entries that were judged by the NATAS Northwest Chapter in Seattle, resulting in 267 nominations representing 54 television stations and production companies. The winners were announced Saturday night in a televised ceremony at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville.
Since The Renaissance Center opened in 1999, it has received 44 nominations for Midsouth Regional Emmy Awards and has won 12. Tennessee’s Wild Side has received eight of those nominations and picked up three awards: Best Magazine Program in 2003 and 2007 and Best Writer/Non-News in 2002.
In April 2006, The Renaissance Center launched Tennessee’s Wild Side Weekly Online, an internet-based spin-off of the television program that features video and audio reports on hunting and fishing as well as updated fishing condition reports and more at www.tnwildsideweekly.com.
To learn more about the programs of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, sign up for Wildwatch, the free weekly electronic newsletter here: TWRA Wildwatch.