New York – The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has announced the winners of the first International Emmy Kids Awards. The winning programmes are from Argentina, Japan, Norway and the United Kingdom.
The winners are: Japan’s Junior High School Diaries: Harmony of Two (Kids: Series); Norway’s Energy Survival (Kids: Non-Scripted Entertainment); Argentina’s El Jardín de Clarilú (Kids: Pre-School); and the UK’s Newsround-My Autism and Me (Kids: Factual), The Amazing World of Gumball (Kids: Animation) and Lost Christmas (Kids: TV-Movie/Mini-Series).
From Asia, NHK’s Junior High School Diaries is a long-running weekly drama series that asks actual junior high school students to play out real-life issues they face. The episode that clinched the award was a milestone episode that commemorated the 50th anniversary of the series. Keisuke transfers to a new school but distances himself from his classmates because of his stutter. His classmate, Aguri notices his condition and graciously tries to get him to open up. After a string of events, Keisuke and Aguri perform a piano duet together at the school talent show. Through acting out of his own role, Keisuke faces his challenge and learns to overcome his struggle.
Cartoon Network’s international series The Amazing World of Gumball continues its winning streak, most recently winning two awards at the BAFTAs in the Animation and Writer categories.
Over 300 international industry executives attended the inaugural event, held at the Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers, in New York City. The International Emmy Kids Awards’ presenting partners are: Shaw Rocket Fund, Hasbro Studios, SVT/DRTV, TV Kids and Ernst & Young.
