St. Thomas has won two awards for videos produced as part of the 2009 Opus Prize project: an Upper Midwest Regional Emmy Award and a Telly Award.
The Emmy, believed to be the first won by St. Thomas, was awarded in the “Special Achievement-Community Service” category and cited the four videos produced by videographer and producer Brad Jacobsen, Web and Media Services; writer and narrator Dave Nimmer, Web and Media Services; and writer Doug Hennes, University Relations. Gary Schulzetenberg, associate director of Web and Media Services, nominated St. Thomas for the award, which was conferred Sept. 25 in Minneapolis.
Earlier this year, Jacobsen and Nimmer won bronze Telly Awards in the "Social Issues" category for their Opus Prize video on Aïcha Ech Channa, the Moroccan woman who won the $1 million award from the Opus Prize Foundation. The Telly Awards honor excellence in local, regional and cable television as well as nonbroadcast video programs.
St. Thomas and the Opus Prize Foundation of Minnetonka collaborated last year to recognize three honorees as unsung heroes who are transforming lives through a commitment to service and social entrepreneurship. The other finalists were Sister Valeriana García-Martín of Bogotá, Colombia, and Father Hans Stapel of Guaratinguetá, Brazil. They each received $100,000 awards.
Jacobsen and Nimmer traveled to Morocco to interview Ech Channa for a video, website and St. Thomas magazine story. Jacobsen and Hennes traveled to Colombia and Brazil to interview Garcia-Martin and Stapel for similar coverage. Thomas Whisenand of University Relations traveled to all three countries for photographic coverage of the honorees.
