The Producers Guild of America has unveiled a new Innovation Award for the upcoming 31st annual Producers Guild Awards.
The PGA announced Wednesday that its Innovation Award will be bestowed upon the production of a noteworthy, impactful new media program that significantly elevates the audience’s viewing experience. The award will honor exceptional distinctiveness, inventiveness and impact of the submitted work in expanding the conventions of program format, content, audience interaction, production technique and delivery.
“As producers and storytellers, we recognize that it is important to embrace change in a time of expansion and exploration of new ideas in entertainment,” said Gail Berman and Lucy Fisher, presidents of the Producers Guild of America. “This new award will allow our members to celebrate the innovations we are making as producers to further the advancement of content through new technology and platforms.”
Entries will be reviewed and voted on by a jury of blue-ribbon experts in the field of new media. The inaugural Innovation Award jury may include Kim Adams of Adventure Lab; Nancy Bennett of Two Bit Circus; Thomas Geraghty of Universal Parks; Doug Herzog of Quibi; Lisa Hsia of Universal Kids Digital Media; Lori McCreary of Clickstar and Revelations Entertainment; Jacquelyn Ford Morie of All These Worlds and Joanna Popper of Hewlett Packard.
Other possible jury members include Yelena Rachitsky of Oculus; Albert “Skip” Rizzo of the USC Institute for Creative Technologies; Ira Rubenstein of Public Broadcasting Service; Sam Russo of Herschend Family Entertainment; Ted Schilowitz of Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox; Christina Lee Storm of DreamWorks Animation; and Shelby Jiggetts-Tivony of Disney Parks Live Entertainment.
The new Innovation Award will be given out at a nominee celebration prior to the Producers Guild Awards show on Jan. 18.