KMEX Tops 67th Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards with Nine Honors

Spanish-language stations KMEX and KVEA led the winners at the 67th Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards on Saturday night, mirroring a shifting demographic in both the television market and Los Angeles at large.

KMEX took home nine honors, including the award for regularly scheduled daily morning newscast for “Primera Edición.” Its competitor KVEA received seven awards, including the award for regularly scheduled daily evening newscast for “Noticiero Telemundo 52 A Las 11 PM.” Both stations tied for regularly scheduled daily daytime newscast.

The two stations were among 17 outlets receiving awards for excellence in local programming in the Greater Los Angeles Area. The ceremony, which was hosted by Scott Aukerman and held in Hirscher Hall at the Skirball Cultural Center’s Guerin Pavilion, delivered awards in 50 categories spanning from sports and news coverage to entertainment and medical programming. Presenters for the evening included 12 anchors, reporters and producers from various sports and news stations.

In addition to taking home the award for outstanding news feature reporting, CBS2 news anchor Pat Harvey received the esteemed Governors Award for her substantial contributions to Los Angeles television and the community as a whole. During the past 26 years in Los Angeles, Harvey has reported on major news stories including the Rodney King riots, the O.J. Simpson trial and the Northridge earthquake and earned more than a dozen Los Angeles Area Emmys.

“I look forward to the next chapter, and I will continue to give a voice to those who have been unheard or unseen,” Harvey said in her acceptance speech.

This mission to tell stories echoed throughout the night as producers, anchors, writers and editors walked onstage to accept their awards and champion the importance of broadcast journalism.

KMEX earned multiple honors for news reporting, including the award for investigative reporting – news for its segment “Frontera Millionaria” on “Noticias 34 Solo a las Seis” and the award for serious news story – multi-part report for its story “Cada Gota Cuesta.” Reporter Antonio Valverde also won the award for outstanding hard news reporting.

The award for news special went to NBC4 for its coverage of the Napa Quake. The channel also received honors for its educational segment on the California drought and its segment on celebrating Black History Month.

Among live events, KTLA5 won an award for its coverage of the UCLA water main break in the category of unscheduled news event. It also was recognized for its coverage of the Rose Parade in the area of live special events – programming. KVEA/NBC4 received an award in the area of live special events – news for its segment “AB60 Driver Licenses For All Phone Bank.”

KCET garnered all of the nominations in the information segment and feature segment categories, with awards given to Val Zavala and Lata Pandya for their work on “Overmedicating the Elderly” and to Cara Santa Maria for her work on “Natural History Museum’s Citizen Science Insect Labeling Project”.

In the individual awards categories, David Ono of ABC7 earned the accolade of outstanding writer – programming for the fourth year in a row, while CBS2/KCAL9’s Nicolette Medina won the award for outstanding writer – news.

The award for outstanding director – programming went to Mike Maas of CBS2 for the third consecutive year. Maas and producer Garry Ashton also took home the award for their short promo “CBS2 News 11 PM Image.”

The evening was also a big night for sports coverage, with Time Warner Cable SportsNet L.A. earning six awards for categories including sports tease (“Opening Tease, Access SportsNet LA Dodgers Launch Show”), sports special (“2013 Dodgers: A Whole New Blue”), and sports feature (“10,000 Wins (Access SportsNet Dodgers)”). Fox Sports West and Time Warner Cable SportsNet followed with two awards each (graphics and outstanding videographer single camera – programming for the former, and sports series – programming (post produced) and sports series – programming (live broadcast) for the latter). Time Warner Cable Deportes received one honor as well (information/public affairs series (more than 50 percent remote)).

Other winners included:

Outstanding Editor – Programming

Antonio Camberos

KMEX

Outstanding Editor – News

Jaime Sanchez

KVEA

Outstanding Director – News

Horacio Cervantes

KMEX

Serious News Story – Single Report

“A Voice Silenced: Linda Ronstadt”

CBS2/KCAL9

Medical News Story – Multi-Part Report

“From Diagnosis To Death: John Eggers”

KTLA5

Crime/Social Issues

“KTLA’s Virtual Reality Check”

KTLA5

Instructional Programming

“Geology Across the American Landscape”

Educable – Channel 95

Children/Youth Programming

“CHLA Imagine: A Celebration of Hope”

ABC7

Arts and Culture/History

“Mia, A Dancer’s Journey”

PBS SoCaL

Sports Series – News

“Atleta De La Semana”

KVEA

Public Service Announcement

“Stephanie’s Day”

CBS2/KCAL9

Public, Municipal and Operator Produced Cable

DGA – “Santa Monica Cares”

CityTV of Santa Monica

Following KMEX and KVEA in the rankings were Time Warner Cable SportsNet L.A. with six Emmys; KTLA5 with five; CBS2/KCAL9 with four; CBS2 and NBC4 with three each; ABC7, Fox Sports West, KCET, PBS SoCal, and Time Warner Cable SportsNet with two each; and CityTV of Santa Monica, Educable – Channel 95, KVEA/NBC4, Prime Ticket and Time Warner Cable Deportes with one each.

A video replay of the event and a complete list of winners are available here.