Voice of the Sea wins nine Telly Awards
June 4, 2020
With over 12,000 entries from all 50 states and 5 continents, the Voice of the Sea television series, produced by the University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant College Program (Hawai‘i Sea Grant), took home nine awards in the 41st Annual Telly Awards.
The Telly Awards honor the very best in local, regional, and cable television, as well as online commercials, videos, and films. Entries were judged by a panel of diverse and elite television and video industry leaders. Voice of the Sea was awarded one gold, four silver, and four bronze awards.
This is not the first win for Voice of the Sea, which focuses on environmental and cultural issues. Now in its 7th season, the series, has racked up 30 Telly Awards. Dr. Kanesa Duncan Seraphin, series producer, host, and professor at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, said “Our Telly Awards are really a tribute to the people we profile—their knowledge, passion, and creativity. We are privileged to share their stories.”
Voice of the Sea won a Gold Telly in educational television for the episode EXPORTS: On Board the Sally Ride. The EXPORTS research project, funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation, seeks to explain how carbon moves from the atmosphere to the deep ocean in order to more accurately predict future climate conditions. The University of Hawai‘i (UH) EXPORTS project is led by oceanography researcher Dr. Brian Popp. The Voice of the Sea EXPORTS episodes were produced in collaboration with Dr. Popp and former UH School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) Young Investigator, Dr. Hilary Close, who is now an assistant professor at the University of Miami.
The other winning Voice of the Sea episodes of 2020 include:
Silver Telly Awards
Wai Maoli: Hawai‘i Fresh Water Initiative (Television: Social Impact)
Saving the Kiwikiu (Television: Nature/Wildlife)
Hazard and Hurricane Preparedness (Television: Social Impact)
Deep Sea Algae (Television: Education)
Bronze Telly Awards
College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (Television: Educational Institution)
EXPORTS 2: On Board The Roger Revelle (Television: Education)
Water Reuse (Television: Public Interest/Awareness)
SOEST Open House (Television: Educational Institution)
Voice of the Sea airs on TV Saturdays at 4:00 pm and Sundays at 6:00 pm, on K5 The Home Team (KFVE). Voice of the Sea is a signature project of the University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant Center for Marine Science Education. To watch full episodes or learn more about Voice of the Sea visit voiceofthesea.org.
The Telly Awards were established in 1979 to honor excellence and support creativity in local, regional, and cable TV programming. Sabrina Dridje, managing director of the Telly Awards said in a release “Our work exists to highlight and honor exemplary storytelling across all screens… As our season came to a close during the pandemic, however, we were equally impressed by the work that was being produced in this difficult climate to continue to highlight stories that otherwise would not find an audience.”