“Blue Ridge Adventures: Whitewater” has won three broadcasting awards, including a 2008 Virginia Association of Broadcasters (VAB) first place award for Best Documentary. To create the video, the Blue Ridge PBS production team spent a day on the Upper Gauley River in West Virginia, one of the top rated whitewater rivers in the world. The whitewater episode was broadcast in 2008, as a part of the station’s “Blue Ridge Adventures” series.
“We believe it was the first time the entire length of the Upper Gauley was filmed in high definition,” said Jim Underwood, producer for the Blue Ridge Adventures series. “With a camera in a specially designed, clear waterproof container lashed to the front of a raft, and other cameras in strategic points along the river, we recorded what it is like to go rafting on Class III, IV, and V rapids. It was an awesome experience and I think we captured that in the video.”
The VAB award was presented during a ceremony at Virginia Beach, Va. Earlier in June “Blue Ridge Adventures: Whitewater” won a 2009 Videographer Award of Excellence, in the Travel category. The other winner in this category was a submission from Walt Disney Parks & Resorts in California. The Videographer Awards, one of the oldest and most respected awards programs in the broadcast industry, is an international competition designed to recognize excellence in video productions, TV commercials/ news/ programs and new media.
The Blue Ridge PBS video was also awarded a Bronze Telly. The Telly Awards honor the very best local, regional, and cable television commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions, and work created for the Web. The 29th Annual Telly Awards received over 14,000 entries from all 50 states and 5 continents.
This the second consecutive year Blue Ridge PBS has won these three awards, adding to an impressive collection of honors bestowed upon the station’s production team.
“This award-winning video was among the first produced with our new HD production equipment,” said James Baum, Blue Ridge PBS President and CEO. “We are extremely pleased to be honored with these accolades, and we will continue to offer top-quality local programs with stories and topics that speak directly to our viewers.”
The winning video and clips from other Blue Ridge PBS local productions can be seen online at www.BlueRidgePBS.org.
