Quiltmakers Documentary Wins
Regional Emmy Award

Alabama Public Television’s documentary THE QUILTMAKERS OF GEE’S BEND has won the 2005 Southeast Regional Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in a Documentary Program. The award was presented Saturday, June 18 by the Southeast Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in Atlanta.

“We’re proud of the new recognition that has been given to this outstanding program,” says Alabama Public Television Executive Director Allan Pizzato. “It demonstrates again the exceptional quality of the staff at APT and the unique role Alabama Public Television has played in telling Alabama’s stories for 50 years. This program turned a very positive spotlight on the state and we’ve heard tremendous response to it from all across the country.”

Originally broadcast on Alabama Public Television in April 2004, THE QUILTMAKERS OF GEE’S BEND was broadcast by PBS stations across the nation in February 2005, making it eligible for a national Emmy. Last week, governors of the Nonfiction Program Peer Group of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced the creation of a new Emmy Award honoring exceptional merit in nonfiction filmmaking. According to the governors, Shari Cookson and Susan Lacy, entries will have to exhibit "profound social impact, significant innovation of form and/or remarkable mastery of filmmaking technique that perpetuates the power of the art form." The TV Academy specifically said “eligible programs would include THE QUILTMAKERS OF GEE'S BEND."

THE QUILTMAKERS OF GEE'S BEND was produced and directed for Alabama Public Television by Celia Carey. Support for the program was provided by the Alabama State Council on the Arts, Alabama Power and the Alabama Power Foundation.