Telly Award

The Telly Award is an award presented by the namesake, New York City-based organization. The stated purpose of the award is to "honor the very best local, regional, and cable television commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions, and work created for the Web." The award was founded in 1978 by David E. Carter.<ref name="sloss2006"/><ref name="lehman2007"/> Entries are self-nominated with approximately 11,000 submissions per year as of 2010, and the awards are judged by past award winners. There is no set limit to the number of winners each year, but the total numbers in the thousands. The statue prizes are paid for by the winners using engraved information chosen by the recipient.<ref name="telly_faq"/>
Awards
Each year awards are given in both silver and bronze categories. These awards are given by the body of the academy and are judged by past Silver award winners within the industry.<ref name="31st_award_winners"/> In each category there can be multiple silver and bronze winners. There is no stated limit to the number of winners or finalists in any given category. The entries do not compete against each other, but rather they are judged based upon a "high standard of merit."<ref name="3dmagicfactory"/>
The Telly Awards web site lists thousands of winners annually. Official documentation provided to winners indicates that 7 to 10 percent of the approximately 11,000 entries receive Silver Telly Awards and 18 to 25 percent receive the Bronze Telly Award.<ref name="27th_award_winners"/> The official site did not list Bronze winners prior to 2005.<ref name="winners"/> Winners are charged US$195 for their statue plus shipping and handling.<ref name="fees"/>
Once, the award was given to an interactive video of a fish tank, and the winning video was put up for auction on eBay.<ref name="fishtank"/> , the lifestyle company Gaiam says they have won 88 Telly awards.<ref name="gaiam"/> In 2004, the regional cable network company CN8, now known as Comcast, indicated they had already been awarded more than 100 Telly Awards.<ref name="c8"/>
Judges
The awards are judged by previous Silver Telly Award winners who have been accepted into the organization's "Silver Telly Council," and are selected by council members. Hence all judges belong to a self-selected group. The Telly Awards site indicates the judges are "top advertising and production professionals," but only council members can review the biographies of all the judges.<ref name="silvercouncil"/> However, some members choose to post their biographies on the web.<ref name="councilmembers"/>

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