New Categories for Short Films, Limited Series, CTV Ads, and Real-time Rendering in 46th Annual Telly Awards

Oct. 16, 2024

The Telly Awards, the largest program honoring excellence in video and television across all screens, kicks off its 46th annual call for entries. To celebrate the creativity that thrives when "Stories Take Shape," the 46th Annual Telly Awards will be looking for submissions that use both traditional methods and new formats to outline the full spectrum of storytelling possibilities. The Tellys welcome work from a range of organizations and individuals including brand creators, social media innovators, television veterans and independent artists. 

Managing Director Amanda Needham underscored:

“The Tellys has always recognized work across the full industry spectrum, making us uniquely positioned to identify trends taking shape. Classic storytelling is rearranging - roles are shifting, genres are blending, and technology is accelerating what is possible, and this season of the Tellys will center categories across film, brand and virtual production centering this in new reality.” 

 

With storytelling and production methods rapidly transforming, the Telly Awards is introducing new categories to celebrate the creativity and innovation shaping today's media landscape. New Categories in Film & Shorts, including Original Score, Scripted, and Documentary options, acknowledges the heightened quality and style of work being made by brands, creators, and independent artists. Additional commercial and technology categories include Brand Partnership, Mascot Video, Use of Real-time Rendering and CTV ads for under 0:15 second spots. 

Also new this year are honors for Telly Production Company of the Year and Telly Media Company of the Year, evolving the former Telly Company of the Year award into two distinctions reflective of the program’s growth. 

Joining the Story Takes Shape campaign are new partners committed to deepening the Telly’s commitment to creating networking and platform opportunities, including Portrait,  the vetted network for modern media and entertainment, Kinema, a social cinema platform for filmmakers and community builders and Seed&Spark. They join returning partners RunwayML AI Film Festival, FilmFatales, NAB, Stash Media, ReelAbilities Film Festival, FWD-Doc, LAPPG, Production Hub and The Gotham.

Among this year’s newest addition of judges are Ben Wackett, Marketing Director, ENSO Sports & Entertainment Agency, Brian Toombs, Head of Roku Brand Studio, Roku Brand Studio, Lucy Shen, Creator Marketing Manager, Patreon, Irantzu Diez-Gamboa, CEO North America, MediaPro, Rosalind Pressman, VP Brand Marketing, Pluto TV, Adam Faze, Executive Producer, Gymnasium, James Young, EVP, Head of Creative Innovation, BBDO New York, Sarah Minnie, Head of Artist Development and Production, Open Television, Nicole Lederman, Executive Producer, The Martin Agency, and Gregg Stouffer, Lead Editor, Pickleball TV.

This season, the Telly Awards is proud to launch “Throughlines,” a new virtual and in-person conversation series that taps into the Telly’s unique position as a connector across industry verticals to draw connections across brand, social, television, marketing and immersive content, providing a comprehensive, birds-eye view of the seismic shifts happening in the industry. Topics include Fandoms in Sports & Fashion, The New Economy of Video, Innovative News Formats and AI’s Impact on Archives.

“Hot Takes,” the acclaimed video series that features candid and unscripted responses from industry leaders, is back for its fifth season featuring insights from professionals at Roku Brand Studio, ByKids, The Rockefeller Foundation, INVNT GROUP and more. The Telly Award Podcast also returns with in-depth conversations, featuring insights from Enrique Montvalo, Executive Producer at LinkedIn Editorial Productions, and Melissa Ortiz, who has successfully transitioned from Olympian to content creator, now making her mark as a TV host and soccer analyst for TNT and FOX. The Telly’s flagship screening series showcasing exceptional short-form content will go to New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami and Chicago this year, where it continues to be a hub for creative agencies, independent creators, and production companies to connect.