Panhandle PBS wins Regional Emmy® Award for documentary series

The Lone Star Emmy Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has recognized Panhandle PBS producers with Regional Emmy® Awards for their work on the station’s series, “Living While Black.”

The six-episode series originally aired in March and April 2021 on Panhandle PBS, which is a service of Amarillo College. It was a part of the station’s local newsmagazine show, “The Handle.”

“Living While Black” director Hilary Hulsey and producers Karen Welch, Nolyn Hill and Brian Frank each garnered the Regional Emmy® Award in the Best Documentary — Topical category.

The Lone Star Emmy Chapter announced the awards during a virtual ceremony on Saturday, Nov. 20.

“I’m enormously proud of these talented individuals who set the bar high and then so visibly eclipsed it,” said Kevin Ball, CEO for Panhandle PBS. “The result of their collective effort is a highly enlightening documentary that serves as a riveting microcosm of race in America as viewed through our town.”

In the 2020 period of race-related protests and unrest across the United States, Panhandle PBS asked Black and biracial Amarilloans to describe what #livingwhileblack means in this country and what all of us — of every race — can do to move conversations forward to create change. The result was “Living While Black.”

Topics examined in the documentary include the Black experience in Amarillo; current and historical movements for change; missing Black history; systemic racism; segregation, desegregation and the renaming of local schools; and how to move from protest to progress.

Full episodes and individual segments can be viewed at panhandlePBS. org, and on the station’s YouTube channel.

For more information, please call Karen Welch, PPBS senior content producer, at 806-670-4518.