For the 12th consecutive year, ESPN, Inc. led the industry with the most Sports Emmy Award nominations for 2011, 52 across its platforms (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN 3D, ABC and ESPN.com), it was announced today by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The bulk of ESPN’s nominations honor the company’s efforts in enterprise journalism and storytelling, along with technical excellence in both studio and event production, including ESPN 3D. The winners will be announced Monday, April 30, in New York. ESPN’s nominations were led by 30 for its studio, news and journalism efforts, capped by eight for Outside the Lines, seven for E:60 and four for ESPN Films documentaries:
- ESPN earned four nominations in three different categories – Short Features, Long Features and Studio Show Daily (four-time winner SportsCenter, 2010 winner Pardon the Interruption and first-time nominees NASCAR Now and ESPN2’s SportsNation).
- ESPN grabbed three nominations each in Sports Documentary (ESPN Films’ Catching Hell, The Marinovich Project and Unguarded, which was also cited for Editing) and Sports Journalism (all for E:60).
- College GameDay – winner of Studio Show Weekly three of the last four years – was again nominated, as was seven-time winner Sunday NFL Countdown. The latter was also nominated in Production Design/Art Direction.
- Among studio commentators, College GameDay’s Kirk Herbstreit – named Best Studio Analyst the last two years – is nominated again, alongside first-time nominees Skip Bayless of ESPN2’s weekday morning FirstTake and NFL analyst Trent Dilfer.
- In Event Production, multiple nominations were earned by Monday Night Football, FIFA Women’s World Cup, motorsports, the Winter X Games, golf and Grand Slam tennis:
- MNF was nominated in Live Series, its analyst Jon Gruden was nominated for the third time in his three years with the series, and it was cited for Graphic Design and Music.
- In the wake of the honors last year for ESPN’s ground-breaking presentation of the FIFA World Cup from South Africa – three Sports Emmys including Outstanding Live Special for the final match – ESPN earned three nominations for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany, including another nod in the Live Special category, for the U.S. vs. Japan final.
- NASCAR’s Chase for the Cup received a nod in the Playoff Coverage category, the on-site NASCAR studio presence received mention in Tech Team Studio and the Indianapolis 500 on ABC received a nomination in Opens/Teases.
- The Winter X Games received three nominations, for Live Sound, Short Feature, and for ESPN 3D in Tech Team Remote. ESPN 3D’s presentation of The Masters was nominated for the George Wensel Technical Achievement Award.
- In addition to the ESPN 3D nomination, ESPN’s golf team received two other nods – in Opens/Teases and Writing (the Dick Schaap Award), both for The Open Championship – Day Three.
- ESPN’s coverage of all four of tennis’ Grand Slam events was cited for excellence in its features and bumps/teases in two categories, Editing and Camerawork.
- ESPN.com was nominated in New Approaches – Sports Programming for Sports Science. The TV version of the show was also nominated in Graphic Design, which it won last year. Also, the “It’s not crazy, it’s sports” brand awareness promotional campaign is a nominee in Promotional Announcement – Institutional category for the “Fanwiches,” “Proposal” and “Towel around the World” spots.