The Telly Awards, the world's largest honor for video and television content across all screens, has revealed the winners of this year's competition.
Animation standouts range from Baobab Studios' 'Bonfire,' an interactive film voiced by stand-up comedian, actress, and writer Ali Wong and BUCK's 'A Voice Is All You Need' for Amazon Music, voiced by Chance the Rapper, to Narratively Creative's 'The Story of Your Name,' which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Under the theme of 'Telly Award Winners Tell Great Stories,' a new suite of 'Immersive & Mixed Reality' as well as expansions of the 'Social Impact' and 'Diversity & Inclusion' categories were added. The 2020 awards once again named CBS Interactive as the 'Telly Company of the Year' for years of achievement in multi-platform narratives such as 60 Minutes Overtime on CBS News and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert along with branded content pieces for the likes of Google, Oculus Quest, and Toyota.
The 41st Telly's also saw a rise in COVID-19-related works created during and/or addressing the ongoing lockdown period including The Juilliard School's 'Bolero Julliard,' a choreographed Zoom performance featuring 100+ of the conservatory's alumni and legendary musician Yo-Yo Ma.
"Our work exists to highlight and honor exemplary storytelling across all screens," explains Telly Awards Managing Director Sabrina Dridje. "And now is a more important time than ever to give a platform to those creators bringing us global stories. Last season, we were blown away by work that highlighted social injustice and celebrated diverse work cultures, including pieces that showed us the excellent work being done by humanitarian groups around the world and international communities striving for more equal playing fields for the marginalized. 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."