MediaStorm Is First Web DuPont Winner

The Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards for excellence in broadcast journalism are usually won by prominent TV and radio organizations. Yesterday, for the first time, a duPont Award went to a Web-based entry.

Among such recipients as CBS, HBO, PBS and NPR was Brian Storm's MediaStorm, the Brooklyn-based multimedia production studio that has partnered with news organizations and NGOs around the world to create pioneering videojournalism (as proudly showcased on KobreGuide).

MediaStorm's winning entry was Intended Consequences, "a moving multimedia presentation about Rwandan children born of rape," with photographs and interviews by Jonathan Torgovnik.

In painfully intimate interviews photojournalist Jonathan Torgovnik explores an unfathomable question: can a mother love a child born out of rape. The women profiled in this haunting multimedia presentation were caught in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, when mass rapes resulted in the birth of an estimated 20,000 children. It spotlights an issue which had not been as widely covered as other war crimes in Rwanda, and is the first Web-based production to win a duPont Award. The women speak simply about their brutal experiences, their isolation and suffering, and the way forward. The producers made excellent creative choices that contributed to the impact of the reporting without resorting to sensationalism.

Jonathan Torgovnik; photography and interviews; Chad A. Stevens, producer; Jules Shell, on-location video; Bob Sacha, Chad A. Stevens, studio video; Pamela Chen, Sherman Jia, composers; Tim Klimowicz, graphics; Brian Storm, executive producer

Well deserved kudos to Brian and his MediaStormtroopers!

DuPont details and other winners here.

Descriptions of winning programs here.

Congrats to 'News & Documentary' Emmy Nominees

Congratulations to all nominees for the 30th annual Emmy awards in the "News & Documentary" category, which includes a number of online videos that we are proud to have showcased on KobreGuide :

Outstanding Informational Programming -- Long Form

* Growing Up Online (Frontline)

New Approaches to News & Documentary Programming -- Current News Coverage

* Bearing Witness: Five Years of the Iraq War (Reuters/MediaStorm)

* Choosing a President (New York Times)

* The Healing Fields (Washington Post)

New Approaches to News & Documentary Programming -- Documentaries

* The Boys of Christ Child House (Detroit Free Press/ Freep.com)

* Intended Consequences (MediaStorm)

We're always pleased when judges of major awards select video stories that we've chosen to champion and share with viewers long before they were awards contenders.

Naturally it makes us wonder which stories we pick this week might be vying for prestigious awards next year -- and are pleased to be able to present them to you now, so that when they get tapped for glory, you can say you saw them when.

And, yes, we're still tickled by the fact that the Television Academy is bestowing awards on videos that have appeared only online. "New Approaches" indeed!

The awards will be presented Sept. 21 in New York. Meanwhile, see previous nominees and winners on KobreGuide's Emmy awards channel.

MediaStorm Nabs Another Webby Award

Hooray for MediaStorm's well deserved Webby Award for "Documentary: Individual Episode," announced this morning. It's their fourth Webby.

The New York-based videojournalism production company took the prize for "Intended Consequences," by Jonathan Torgovnik. It's a harrowing story about the plight of thousands of woman who contracted HIV and bore children as a result of being raped during the Rwandan massacre.

The People's Voice winner in that category is "Kenya: Sweet Home Obama," for which American reporter Edwin Okong'o traveled to his home in Kenya to find out how his countrymen are rejoicing about Barack Obama.

Documentary Nominees (featured on KobreGuide):

• Intended Consequences (MediaStorm)


• Searching for the Snow Leopard (National Geographic)


• Kenya: Sweet Home Obama (PBS/Frontline)


• Rape in a Lawless Land (Guardian)


• Sri Lanka: A Terrorist in the Family (PBS/Frontline)

Read the official Webby Award profile of MediaStorm. And don't miss this illuminating Webby Award interview with MediaStorm founder Brian Storm.

Winners will be honored at a star-studded ceremony hosted by Saturday Night Live's Seth Meyers in New York City on June 8th. Starting on June 9th on the new, custom Webby Awards YouTube Channel, fans will be able to view dozens of short video highlights from the ceremony, including the winner's five-word speeches and celebrity red-carpet interviews. Past headline-grabbing speechmakers include Al Gore ("Please don't recount this vote") and Stephen Colbert ("Me. Me. Me. Me. Me.")

Hailed as the "Internet's highest honor" by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 650-person judging academy whose members include David Bowie, Harvey Weinstein, Arianna Huffington, Matt Groening, Vinton Cerf, and Richard Branson.

Established in 1996, the 13th Annual Webby Awards received over 10,000 entries from all 50 states and over 60 countries worldwide.

Complete winner list / Online Film & Video winners / Gala Awards Event info