Finalists were revealed online for the 2020 NATAS Mid-America Emmy Awards Thursday and the production arm of the Kansas City Chiefs placed high in the pinnacle category while coverage of the St. Louis Blues’ Stanley Cup run also yielded high results for entrants.
Overall, a total of 91 categories were presented in areas that included broadcast news, commercial campaigns, public service announcements and sports presentations.
The regional chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences primarily covers five states – Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Louisiana and Iowa – as well as adjacent areas in Kentucky and Kansas. Entrants that reached the final round will compete for hardware on Saturday, November 21.
In the category of “Overall Excellence,” the three finalists were 65tpt Productions, the official production department of the KC Chiefs, Kansas City ABC affiliate KMBC-TV and St. Louis NBC affiliate KSDK-TV.
Propelled by coverage of their victory at Super Bowl IV In February, the Chiefs’ internal video team received 11 nominations overall.
Meanwhile, anchored by each station’s respective nomination for “News Excellence,” KSDK collected 38 nominations on the day while KMBC netted 20.
In sports-centric categories, Fox Sports Midwest claimed a pair of nominations in the “Sports-One Time Special” docket with the St. Louis Cardinals’ April 5, 2019 home opener at Busch Stadium and a St. Louis Blues preview program that aired in September 2019.
The other finalists in that specific category were the KC Chiefs’ comprehensive recap of their 2019-20 season and Kansas City’s WDAF-TV tribute to the Negro Baseball Leagues that aired in February.
In the category of “Sports Anchor,” Springfield’s KYTV Sports Director Chad Plein and Kansas City’s KSHB Sports Director Mick Shaffer were the last pair standing that will aim for a statue.
As the lone entrant in the “Sports Play-by-Play” category, Dan McLaughlin snared a lock-down win for his work on St. Louis Cardinals’ broadcasts for Fox Sports Midwest during the 2019 season.
In the category of live coverage of a sporting event, FSM’s presentation of the St. Louis Blues’ 3-2 victory over Winnipeg in Game 6 of the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs was nominated alongside the cable network’s coverage of Albert Pujols’ return to Busch Stadium in a Cards/Angels match-up on June 21, 2019.
Also included in that category is the KC Chiefs’ internal presentation of an August 24, 2019 pre-season game at Arrowhead Stadium against the San Francisco 49ers.
The St. Louis Blues’ 2019 NHL Stanley Cup run also resulted in finalists as KSDK’s coverage of the Blues’ victory over Boston on June 12, 2019 netted the station a nomination for “Team Coverage” while ensuing parade coverage held three days later resulted in nominations for both FSM and KSDK for “Special Event Coverage.”
In the area of “Sports Story,” KSDK’s Frank Cusumano was nominated alongside KY3’s Plein for respective entries.
Other finalists involving sports-related content include Coolfire Media’s Brent Johnson and 3M Films’ Dane Dickmann for their work in audio production, St. Louis’ KETC-TV’s legacy look at the St. Louis Browns and longtime Fox Sports Midwest director Tom Mee’s work on Blues and Cardinal games.
Click on this link to see the full list of the Mid-America Emmy nominations.
By trade, he is a six-time, regional Emmy Award-winning news videographer/editor for KTVI/KPLR-TV. By hobby, he is a writer for Arch City Media, dating back to February 2014. Emphasis is on featuring and promoting local women's sports, but will cover anything that is not reported by traditional media outlets. Also a contributor to local concert reviews.
