Media Office wins prize

Telly Awards are the equivalent of the Emmys awarded to network television. They are a national competition judged by 20 producers from agencies, TV stations, production houses and corporate video departments -- all previous Telly winners. More than 11,000 entries in 42 categories are submitted.

The Media Office won in the category of religious and spiritual programming for "Disciples Together in Faith," the three-part program which combined talks on faith by Bishop Hubbard with "video parables" on people's personal faith journeys.

Prestigious

Mrs. Malle and producer Patrick Murphy, who both worked on the project, noted that winning put them in prestigious company: Their competition included Touchstone Pictures, TNT, DreamWorks, The Learning Channel, The Discovery Channel and Eastman Kodak.

The idea for the televised retreat surfaced in 1998. The Media Office liked the idea but realized when viewing a similar program done by the Bishop in 1981 that a different approach was needed in the new program to fit the times.

Honing the shows

Creating the production required arduous effort all around. For example, it took four days just to complete the show's 30-second opening, and many hours to finish each three-minute video parable.

Mr. Murphy alone spent hundreds of hours "logging" videotape: writing down every word the subjects said and when they said it.

Eleven seconds

Media Office staff also had a new editing system they were learning how to use as they edited the program. Mr. Murphy remarked that volunteer Media Office secretary Sister Jean Whalen, CSJ, "said prayers for us the whole time!"

The finished product, which aired in April 2000, was lauded by viewers all around the Diocese. A toll-free phone line set up for questions after the program aired received more than 130 calls.

Quality work

However, the office isn't resting on its laurels: It's planning a new program to begin this fall, titled "In Word and Deed." The magazine-style program will highlight Catholics and non-Catholics in the Diocese who share time and talents to help others.

Mrs. Malle said it "seemed like a natural progression" to create the follow-up program. But the Telly for work already done, said Mr. Murphy, was "a good pat on the back."

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