The Ole Miss Video Productions team won its first Emmy Award at an annual ceremony hosted last week by the Southeast Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in Atlanta. Submitted photo
Team won for coverage of Ole Miss Wish that reunited military family
by Edwin Smith
A video story about the Ole Miss Wish for the family of Army warrant officer Kyle Rodgers last November has landed an Emmy Award for the University of Mississippi production team that put it together.
Team members Sam McGlone, Brad Gray and Jalea Millon received a Southeast Emmy Award for “Excellence in Special Events Coverage—Edited” at the annual ceremony hosted last week by the Southeast Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in Atlanta.
“The most important thing I can convey in all of this is that it’s just nice to be nominated,” said McGlone, a producer-director in Ole Miss Media Productions who headed the project. “Winning was an amazing accomplishment and a memory I will keep forever, but just being recognized along with our peers around the Southeast and here in Mississippi is an incredible achievement.”
The four-minute video follows Elizabeth Rodgers and her three sons through a day on campus before they were reunited with her husband after his deployment in Egypt. The surprise came after the first quarter of the Ole Miss vs. Texas A&M football game in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
The Emmy win is another affirmation of the planning and work that went into hosting and documenting the special moment for the Rodgers family, said Andrew Newby, director of the university’s Office of Veterans and Military Services.
“During the six months of planning, Sam and I spoke about how this could win an Emmy and we both agreed we would try,” Newby said. “The fact that we won is a testament to the incredible work Sam, Brad and Jalea can do to tell a story in a compelling way.
“The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences believed in the importance of this program, and we’ve won our first Emmy because of the intrepid work of a dedicated partnership between Veteran and Military Services and Ole Miss Media Productions.”
The Ole Miss team received four nominations on seven entries in only its second year submitting to the regional Emmys.
“A large number of awards are given out and we were a bit nervous as we counted down categories until our first nomination came up,” McGlone said. “Having worked alongside Emmy winners and for other groups that had received Emmy wins—but never actually being nominated or winning one myself—I had big sense of relief and a flood of emotions as our name was called.”
McGlone said he is especially pleased that the award honors a team project for his group. “I also wanted to make it a point to thank those who have and are serving in the military,” he said.
“Knowing the Rodgers family story, I felt it was also very important to recognize the family members those serving have to leave back at home while in service to their country, the kids that have to sacrifice time with mom or dad, and the spouses and significant others who carry the weight of being both parents while the other is away or are all alone while they are gone, the moms and dads who watch their children walk into harm’s way.”
