ESPN Wins Seven Sports Emmy Awards

First-Ever Sports Emmys for ESPN Deportes and 30 for 30

X Games, E:60, SportsCenter and College GameDay Honored Once Again

ESPN won seven Sports Emmy Awards, presented for the 35th year by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences tonight in New York, highlighted by wins for two ESPN Deportes studio shows in the first year of Spanish-language categories and the first-ever Sports Emmy for the 30 for 30 film series.  In addition, previous winners of multiple Sports Emmys took the stage again to accept awards – X Games, E:60, SportsCenter and football’s College GameDay.

Overall, with three awards for studio shows, and others for a feature, journalism and a documentary series, ESPN’s hallmark of outstanding storytelling was again recognized by the company’s peers.

• In the first year of Spanish-language categories, two ESPN Deportes entries were recognized the Best Studio Show category – SportsCenter and Nacion.

• In another first, the acclaimed film series 30 for 30 won the Documentary Series Sports Emmy.

• SportsCenter won its 16^th Sports Emmy, for “Richie Parker:  Drive” in the Short Feature category.  Tom Rinaldi profiled Parker, a chassis and body designer for NASCAR’s Hendrick Motorsports, who was born without arms.  It was ESPN’s 21^st Sports Emmy in a Features category.

• The X Games won a Sports Emmy for the 10^th time, in the Live Graphic Design category.

• E:60 won the Sports Emmy for Journalism, for the report “Children of the Ring” by Jeremy Schaap, a hard look at the human rights issues surrounding the growing sport of children’s professional Muay Thai fighting in Thailand.  It was the E:60’s sixth Sports Emmy in its five years.

• The football College GameDay was named the Best Weekly Studio Show for the fourth time (also in 2008, 2010 and 2011).

ESPN has now won 160 Sports Emmy Awards in 27 years of eligibility.

ESPN’s Sports Emmy Awards (all are ESPN, except as noted):

Sports Documentary Series           30 for 30                             

Studio Show/weekly                       College GameDay (football)

Journalism                                     E:60 – Children of the Ring (ESPN2)

Short Feature                                 SportsCenter – Richie Parker: Drive

Live Graphic Design                       X Games

Studio Show in Spanish                Nacion (ESPN Deportes) and SportsCenter (ESPN Deportes)

-30-