Last night at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, the 38th annual Gracie Awards were held, honoring “exemplary programming created for women, by women, and about women in all facets of media including radio, television, cable and digital media.”
ESPN was recognized with awards for Outside the Lines and espnW. ESPN anchor Hannah Storm was both a winner (for the W series she produced) and a presenter. ESPN reporter Michele Steele accepted the honor on behalf of OTL.
“What an honor to receive a Gracie last night in Los Angeles, my third as a producer,” Storm said. “It’s such an empowering event that promotes stories by women, for women and about women.
“Last night’s Gracie for Internet content was for a story I produced through my company Brainstormin, for espnW for the ‘Journeys and Victories’ series we developed for Procter and Gamble,” she said. “This story was user-generated content and Payge McMahon tells her story of following a bucket list she found of her mother’s, after her mom passed away. It changed her life.
“Another big highlight was awarding a Gracie to Michele Steele for the OTL feature about WNBA star Seimone Augustus. It was great getting to hang out with her and espn.com’s Ramona Shelbourne, who was coming off a long day writing about the Clippers.”
Said Steele: “I accepted a Gracie award on behalf of Outside the Lines, of which our submission included my feature on WNBA star Seimone Augustus’ fight to marry her partner legally in Minnesota. The Alliance for Women in Media recognizes work that reflects a realistic and multifaceted portrayal of women across many platforms and it was an honor to be recognized and included in OTL‘s entry.
“I am thankful to [Senior Coordinating Producer] Dwayne Bray, [OTL producer] Nicole Noren and my own manager [Senior Director of Digital Media and Video] Ronnie Forchheimer, who supported my work on the piece last year. The last 12 months have seen breathtaking change in attitudes towards gay athletes — and I’m glad to have played a part in telling their stories.”
The night provided a bonus for Storm: “As a mom of three teenage girls and an avid watcher of Pretty Little Liars, I was really excited to sit at a table with the stars of ABC Family hit show Ian Harding and Lucy Hale, who play Ezra and Aria, respectively. I tried to pry details of next season out of Ian and Lucy, but Ian said he’s not even allowed to tell his own mom plot lines. He did intimate that Ezra has some wild plot twists, which isn’t surprising.”
Storm and Steele supplied the photos seen in the gallery above.
