Most recently, I was nominated for two Heartland Emmy® awards for my work.
- A year-long project that I put together on two women who’ve taken their pregnancy losses and turned to help others in a similar situation. It’s truly beautiful story.
- A nomination highlighting my news anchoring and continuous coverage with investigative reporting.
Sadly, a person contacted the Heartland Emmy® chapter saying I did not own the copyright for this footage submitted.
In my near 20-years in this industry, I have never worked at a place where permission is needed for this type of thing. Ever.
While I feel the Heartland and National Emmy® Chapters showed empathy toward my situation, and the fact that I did create the work submitted, I was disqualified from the contest over ownership of the content.
As a board member and active member within the Heartland Emmy® region, I found the decision to be a disservice to the heart of what the contest is about: celebrating storytellers. While TV stations and production companies may have been a part of what made those stories happen (for all entrants,) the Emmys, to me, celebrates those individuals.
Should some petty individual be able to have a say?
This comes months after the same person had my named removed from a Kansas Association of Broadcasters award. It was a first-place award for my work on missing people — a program under my creation. It only had my name on it. I only found out days before the awards ceremony. We spent money on the gala and childcare to sit through a ceremony that I wasn’t really meant to be at.
The decision with both were disappointing, but at least my peers saw something special in those stories.
Despite all of this, the situation has fueled my fire.
I can’t wait to craft more pieces this year and in the years to come.