WPSU wins 2019 Mid-Atlantic Emmy awards as web series, videographer honored

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — WPSU Penn State earned two regional Emmy awards from the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences on Saturday, Sept. 28, during the 37th annual awards ceremony held in Pittsburgh.

Episode 8 of the WPSU web series, “Finding Your Roots: The Seedlings,” captured its Mid-Atlantic Emmy award in the education and schools program/special category, and Matt Stephens, WPSU videographer for “Unrivaled: The Penn State Football Story” and Lady Lion basketball, won for excellence by an individual covering sports related content. An episode of “Finding Your Roots” won a regional Emmy award for the third time, as two episodes were recognized in 2018.

WPSU — an outreach service of Penn State — has earned at least one Mid-Atlantic Emmy award for the sixth straight year and 27th time since 1981. A total of 90 Mid-Atlantic Regional Emmy awards were presented in 80 categories.

In the award-winning episode, “Finding Your Roots: The Seedlings - Classification,” campers participated in a surprising activity to get them ready for a trip to the Matson Museum of Anthropology at Penn State. Graduate students and mentors showed campers how to find clues in skulls and bones to determine sex, species and evolutionary order.

The WPSU crew included Kristian Berg (producer/director), Cheraine Stanford (producer) and Tyler Henderson (editor).

The “Finding Your Roots: The Seedlings” web series follows 13 young people using science and research skills at a genetics and genealogy camp to answer the question “Who am I?” With an innovative curriculum envisioned by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., host of the popular PBS series "Finding Your Roots” and developed by a team led by Penn State professor Nina Jablonski from the College of the Liberal Arts, campers explore their own family history and DNA ancestry with techniques never before used in an educational setting.

Mindy McMahon from WPSU Penn State, Gates, Jr., from Inkwell Media, Dyllan McGee from McGee Media and Anne Harrington from WETA Washington, D.C., served as the series’ executive producers.

In addition, longtime WPSU producer and host Patty Satalia was formally inducted into the Silver Circle Society for her three decades of contributions to the broadcast industry.

The Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences, which represents Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and parts of Ohio, annually recognizes the top cultural, educational, technological, entertainment, news, informational programming and craft achievements in television and online.

WPSU-TV, a PBS member station, serves 24 counties in central Pennsylvania and reaches 515,000 households, and WPSU-FM, an NPR member station, is accessible to more than 450,000 listeners in 13 counties. The public media station also includes WPSU Digital Studios, which offers original web series that explore science, arts and culture.

Visit the WPSU website for more information.