FOX Sports Detroit earns 10 Michigan EMMYs

Published

FOX Sports Detroit was honored with 10 EMMYs on Saturday night by the Michigan Chapter of National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The awards were presented at the organization's 41st annual ceremony at Motor City Casino Hotel's Sound Board Theatre in Detroit.

FOX Sports Detroit has received 155 EMMYs overall since 2000. The regional sports network received 34 nominations among 24 categories.

"All of us at FOX Sports Detroit are extremely thankful for the recognition by the Academy for our work in 2018," said Greg Hammaren, senior vice president/general manager of FOX Sports Detroit. "Sports touch every emotion and every age group in this community, and we're proud to play a leading role in serving the greatest sports fans in America. I am immensely proud of all the creative and dedicated people who make FOX Sports Detroit such an exciting and thriving place to work."

Here are the EMMY-winning entries for FOX Sports Detroit, recognizing excellence in productions originating in 2018:

** Sports -- News Feature: David Booth Comes Home (Mary Beam, Alex Assaf, Kevin Guralewski)
The network was honored for its feature on David Booth, who was born and raised in Detroit, where he spent most of his childhood playing hockey and dreaming of becoming a Detroit Red Wing. Those dreams all came true 30 years later when he had the opportunity to play his final NHL season with his hometown team. This feature chronicles his road back to Hockeytown, and all his stops along the way, in a heartwarming story about a guy you can't help but to root for.

** Sporting Event/Game -- Live/Unedited – Program/Special: Pistons Opening Night (Jason Dizik, Michael Oddino, Jeff Byle, Brady Clyma)
This EMMY is for our coverage of Pistons Opening Night to kick off the 2018-19 season. We featured some incredibly young poets who encapsulated the rebirth of our great city. We paid homage to one of the greatest musicians of the last century. We brought the viewers to the arena and gave them a front-row seat for all the night's festivities. And we had the greatest Pistons of all-time join our telecast to celebrate the history of the team as the journey of a new year began.

** Sporting Event/Game -- Live/Unedited – Series: Detroit Pistons Basketball (Jason Dizik, Brian Henry, Michael Oddino, Jeff Byle, Brady Clyma)
This EMMY is for a compilation of Pistons basketball in 2018, showcasing how we set the tone and tell the story of each matchup, then chronicle the night until the final buzzer sounds. We strive to entertain and inform our viewers whether surprising them with all-time greats joining the telecast or showcasing the personality of our analyst, Greg Kelser.

** Promotion Program -- Image: Baseball Reigns (Brian Ducoffe, Jason McCombs, Lauren Pober)
This EMMY is for the promo featuring a rain set and playing off the idea that "Baseball Reigns" in Detroit. Detroit summers are about being near water and Tigers baseball, so we combined the two. We placed players inside a rain tunnel that we built and then cut the footage together with Gatorade shower celebrations and gritty plays to continue the water theme in the promo. We also used lightning effects on strike outs and thunder sound effects on big home runs. The script even plays off rain themes, too, "Let it rain cats with that dogged mentality. The one it takes to push through 162."

** Talent -- Sports (John Keating)
This EMMY is for the work John Keating does as on-air host for FOX Sports Detroit's Tigers and Red Wings coverage.

** Director -- Live or Recorded Live: (David Rhoades)
This EMMY is for a compilation of directing by David Rhoades.

** Editor -- Short Form: Promos, PSA's, Commercials, Opens, etc (Brian Ducoffe)
This EMMY is for the editing techniques Brian Ducoffe utilized for all the promos that ran throughout the year. His goal was to use editing to push stories further within a limited time frame.

** Graphic Arts -- Graphics: April in the D (Brian Ducoffe, Jason McCombs)
This EMMY is for the 30-second animations for the April in the D campaign, which celebrates the sports teams playing in Detroit. Live footage was shot specifically for reference in order to match the size, movement and framing of each sports player and then the final result is created by hand drawing each frame of movement and transitions from sport to sport. These spots also featured the music from Detroit's own Jack White.

** Sports -- One-Time Special: Call to the Hall (Stan Fracker, Matthew Sonefeld, Nicholas Austin (Detroit Tigers/FOX Sports Detroit))
This EMMY is for the half-hour show Call to the Hall on Alan Trammell and Jack Morris.

** Sports -- Daily or Weekly Program: Spartans All-Access: Raequan Williams (Nicholas Baker, Michigan State Spartan Vision/FOX Sports Detroit)
This EMMY is for the Spartans All-Access episode Raequan Williams.

The Michigan Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (MI-NATAS) is the most recognized non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and recognition of excellence in television. The EMMY is a distinct honor awarded to TV professionals. Judges, representing EMMY selection committees in other parts of the country, scored the Michigan nominations based on content, creativity and execution of work. For a complete list of winning entries, visit www.natasmichigan.org.

FOX Sports Detroit is delivered to 3.2 million cable and satellite households throughout Michigan and portions of Northwest Ohio and Northern Indiana. The regional network is home to more than 350 live, local events per year, including the Detroit Tigers, Red Wings and Pistons; college hockey; and Michigan High School Athletic Association football and basketball championships. We are the cable TV home of the Detroit Lions.