WPSU wins Mid-Atlantic Emmy awards' top honor for overall station excellence

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — WPSU Penn State won the top honor for overall station excellence at the 2018 Mid-Atlantic Emmy awards on Oct. 13.  

WPSU won the top regional Emmy award in the first year the station was nominated for the prize, competing against television stations from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. In all, WPSU captured three Emmy awards, as episodes two and three of “Finding Your Roots: The Seedlings” earned recognition in the education/schools – program/special category.

With the three 2018 Mid-Atlantic Emmy awards, WPSU has won 25 regional awards since 1981. The station was nominated for 10 Emmy awards in August.

“We’re deeply honored and beyond thrilled to have this top award bestowed upon WPSU Penn State,” said Isabel Reinert, WPSU Penn State executive director and general manager. “We were up against tough competition from other stations large and small in our region, and this is a tremendous testimony to everyone at WPSU and the work we do every day.”

The web series “Finding Your Roots: The Seedlings” followed 13 young people at a new genetics and genealogy camp as they used science to answer the question “Who am I?” In the program that was inspired by the popular PBS series “Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.” and shot on Penn State’s campus, campers explored their own family history and DNA ancestry with techniques never before used in an educational setting.

WPSU production team members for “Finding Your Roots” included Kristian Berg, producer/director/writer; Cheraine Stanford, producer; and Tyler Henderson, editor/videographer.

WPSU videographer/editor Bill Wallace also joined six additional inductees as a Class of 2018 Silver Circle award recipient. The Silver Circle is an honor society within the regional chapter for members who have spent 25 years working in pursuit of the profession’s highest and most noble goals.

The Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences, which represents Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and parts of West Virginia and Ohio, annually recognizes the top cultural, educational, technological, entertainment, news, informational programming and craft achievements in television and online. The regional chapter presented 83 awards in 79 categories during the 36th annual awards celebration in Philadelphia.

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.