The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has chosen mediafellows’ MediaStore platform to build its new entries and judging platform, launched in time for the 2023 International Emmy® Awards competition.
Streamlining the process from uploading entries to judging, The International Emmy® Awards’ new mediafellows-built portal is now open to manage the world's most prestigious television award competition. The International Academy chose to update its entries and judging platform to coordinate the global competition of the International Emmy® Awards, as well as two other Youth competitions (the Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award and the JCS International Young Creatives Award).
To meet the demands of hosting and controlling three distinct platforms for these events in one system, mediafellows built the necessary complex interactions into a simple, screener-focused UI that prioritizes impeccable quality video screening and minimized load times. Each event needs different media from entrants, from feature-length screeners and script PDFs to one-minute snippets of content – so mediafellows developed new logic distinctions in the platform, producing prompts that ensure the right kind of content is always uploaded. Participants can even choose a custom thumbnail from anywhere in the video timeline before the ingest has even started.
Simplifying the log-in for entrants, mediafellows built an entirely new API workflow that verifies access codes obtained from entries paid on the main International Academy’s website. The user sign-up process is also completely customized for this project, with self-registration capabilities allowing entrants to use the same account with all three separate competitions and single sign-on for users of the main International Academy website. Given the website’s specific workflow phases in which three very different users process each entry, mediafellows decided on a new approach by which all activity (including entry, user, and access administration) is handled through the branded custom-designed client UI rather than through the regular MediaStore admin portal.
In addition to the front-end design, mediafellows implemented a custom review workflow with multiple approval rounds that send email notifications to entrants; entries are then cleared for judging once they receive final approval. For jurors, this means they each get a limited view of what is relevant to them, which is responsive and can be fully controlled by admins via a custom grouping interface, flexibly assigning panels of entries and documents. Administrators can even set up entire juror accounts, including passwords, to pass on to users and make their sign-in as frictionless as possible. All users benefit from multi-bitrate streaming, and the browser-based platform requiring no plugins ensures the awards process is seamless from start to finish.
Nathaniel Brendel, Senior Director of Emmy Judging, "Thanks to mediafellows’ unique expertise and understanding of our very specific needs, we were able to transition seamlessly to this new first-rate platform and offer an improved UI experience to our entrants and jurors. We now look forward to continuing our collaboration with the mediafellows team."
mediafellows COO and project manager for this collaboration, Stefan Hauschildt added, "As our first purpose-built awards competition platform, this task was a great challenge with great reward. We’re excited to see the full entry-to-juror process in action, and to continue to refine these operations with the opening of applications for the Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award, and the JCS International Young Creatives Award."
For more information on how mediafellows can support you in building a better awards competition platform and voting portal, please contact info@mediafellows.com
ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS & SCIENCES
The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is a membership-based organization comprised of leading media and entertainment figures from over 60 countries and 500 companies from all sectors of television including internet, mobile and technology. The Academy’s yearly schedule of events includes the prestigious International Emmy® Awards held in New York and a series of industry events such as Academy Day, The International Emmy® World Television Festival and Panels on substantive industry topics. The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences recognizes excellence in television produced outside of the United States with the prestigious Emmy® Award. Currently celebrating programming across varied areas including Arts Programming, Current Affairs, Comedy, Documentary, Drama Series, News, Non-Scripted Entertainment, Short-Form Series, Telenovela, and TV Movie/Mini-Series, it also recognizes excellence in Performances and Kids programming. For more information go to www.iemmys.tv
