International Digital Emmy Winners Announced

CANNES: The winners of the International Digital Emmy Awards were announced at a ceremony in Cannes on Monday hosted by actor Jason Priestley, with wins for New Zealand and the U.K.

The event, organized by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in partnership with Reed MIDEM, was held during the MIPTV opening party at the Martinez. New Zealand scored its first International Emmy with Reservoir Hill‘s win for Digital Program: Children & Young People. The interactive web series from KHF Media follows 16-year-old Beth Connolly as she is forced to solve a mystery when she moves to a creepy suburb. The British winners were Primeval Evolved for Digital Program: Fiction and Virtual Revolution for Digital Program: Non-Fiction, Primeval Evolved, produced by Hoodlum, is an extention of Impossible Pictures’ ITV1 show Primeval. Virtual Revolution is an open source documentary from BBC and The Open University, inviting users to collaborate on the making of a series about how the Internet has transformed society. The event also presented the Pioneer Prize to Tim Kring, the creator and executive producer of Heroes.

“This year’s winners have masterfully demonstrated how to enhance the viewers’ multiplatform experience,” said Bruce L. Paisner, the president and CEO of The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. “We congratulate them on their achievements.”

The awards ceremony was attended by more than 200 international executives from the television, broadband and mobile industries and sponsored by Nokia and Ooyala.