WPDE POLITICAL SPECIAL NOMINATED BY PEERS FOR 2008 EMMY® AWARD
ATLANTA: The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced Monday that WPDE NewsChannel 15’s Jim Heath and Kevin Abadie have been nominated for an Emmy® award for their work on “South Carolina: On the Road to the White House.”
The special, pre-recorded from the White House, aired last November and featured one-on-one interviews with all the leading presidential contenders. The program was produced, written and anchored by Heath, and photographed and edited by Abadie.
WPDE News Director Victoria Spechko, positioning her station as the dominant campaign news station leading up to the South Carolina presidential primaries in January, sent Heath and Abadie across South Carolina throughout 2007 to land exclusive interviews with the leading contenders which included Senators Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain.
“This nomination is the single greatest achievement of my career,” Heath said Monday. “I am so very honored that our industry recognizes the importance of quality campaign coverage in 2008, and I am so grateful to our station for leading the way.”
“It proves that quality campaign coverage is still respected in our business,” Abadie added. “I hope it will serve as an inspiration for even more political reporting, regardless of market size, in the future.”
A panel of broadcast experts selected the nominees in the News Excellence/News Special category. The other nominees are: Georgia’s Water Crisis from WSB TV, and Honoring Our Heroes, Profiles in Courage from WCSC TV.
The Emmy® winner will be announced on June 21st at the 34th Annual Black Tie Gala in Atlanta. This is the first Emmy® nomination for both Heath and Abadie.
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