June 22, 2017
Fighting Irish Media (FIM), the video production, storytelling and athletics communication arm of the University of Notre Dame athletics department, earned five national awards for outstanding content during the 2016-17 academic school year.
The awards came from various national outlets, including the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (also known as The Emmys), the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), the Sports Video Group (SVG), the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and the New York Festivals World’s Best TV and Film.
FIM garnered two writing awards during the year, the first from Executive Editor John Heisler from CoSIDA in the `Story With Video’ category for his feature on former Irish baseball player Craig Counsell and his head coach at Notre Dame, Pat Murphy, titled “Counsell, Murphy Continue Three-Decade `Conversation.'”
Javi Zubizarreta, an Executive Producer in the Catholic Media Project, won a Chicago/Midwest Regional Outstanding Crafts Achievement Off-Air: Writer – Short Form Emmy for his writing work on a series of Notre Dame Football Primers during the 2015 season while a member of the Fighting Irish Media staff. Here is an example of a Primer from the 2015 Notre Dame – Southern Cal game:
Also in the Regional Emmy category, Executive Producer Jodain Massad, in conjunction with 3 Penny Films, took home the Outstanding Achievement for Sports Programs – Program Series Emmy for “Onward Notre Dame: Mutual Respect.”
Most recently, FIM was honored for its live production for football’s National Signing Day by SVG and NACDA in the first week of June. Executive Producers Mike Bonner and Massad, helped by the entire FIM team, won the Outstanding Live Non-Game Production Category, College Athletics Division, for the incredible amount of high-quality content produced on signing day.
Finally, Massad, Zubizarreta and FIM Producer Josh Long earned a Finalist Certificate for the `Demetrius Jackson Story’ by New York Festivals World’s Best TV and Films.