2017 Environmental Media Association Awards for film and television

At the end of 'Chasing Coral': awards and nominations and looking forward to next year's Emmys 4, I told my readers I found another set of entertainment awards right up my alley.

I discovered the Environmental Media Awards, USA during my research.  This is an event I should have known about already as well.  I plan on writing about them, too.  Stay tuned.

The  Environmental Media Association Awards page states the purpose for these awards: "The EMA Awards honor film and television productions and individuals that increase public awareness of environmental issues and inspire personal action on these issues."  That's exactly the kind of purpose I thought these awards would have and why I'm glad I finally stumbled across them.  These are the films and television shows I should be featuring here.

The Environmental Media Association Awards YouTube channel does not have separate clips of the movie and television winners being announced, but it does have a sizzle reel showing all the celebrity honorees and their presenters.

Relive the excitement of the 2017 EMA Awards, Hosted by Jaden Smith, with our sizzle reel. Toyota and Lexus presented the Awards.

Variety listed the honorees.

Jaden Smith, a member of the EMA board, will host the awards. The show will also honor Russell Simmons with EMA’s Mission in Music Award, Natalie Portman with the EMA Ongoing Commitment Award, John Paul DeJoria with the Innovator Award, and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg will be given the org’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Now I know which celebrities have a green reputation.

It was cool to see the green stars, but I'm interested in the green shows.  Here are this year's nominees and winners from Variety and the Environmental Media Association.

Feature Film

“Moana” (Disney)
“Okja” (Netflix)

Winner: "Okja."

On the one hand, it's a pretty weak year for environmental themes in feature films that only two were nominated between August 2016 and July 2017.  On the other hand, I don't disagree with either the nominees or the winner one bit.  It doesn't hurt that both are speculative fiction. "Moana" is an animated musical fantasy with two Grammy nominations and was nominated for Best Animated Film at the Saturn Awards.  "Okja" is a action/adventure film with fantastic elements about the excesses of industrial agriculture.  I fully expect to see "Okja" nominated for some category at the Saturn Awards, whether in film, presentation on television, or streaming television.  If it's not nominated, I will consider it an oversight, as it could fall between the cracks of the categories.  I also expect nominations for "Okja" in special effects and movie for television at next year's Emmys.  My readers and I will have to wait until the middle of next year to see how all these predictions fare.  Maybe by that time, I'll have an entry devoted to it.

Next, the category that led me to these awards.

Documentary Film

“An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power” (Paramount Pictures)
“Before The Flood” (Fox & National Geographic)
“Chasing Coral” (Netflix)
“From The Ashes” (Fox & National Geographic)

Winner: "An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power."

Wow, that's a worthy list of nominees, all of which I can recommend to my students and all on related topics of climate change and the energy sources that cause it.  "An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power" is also a worthy winner.  Now I'm looking forward to how it fares at the Academy Awards.  Next month.

Follow over the jump for the television nominees and winners.

Variety mentioned the defending winners in the first two categories.

“The Blacklist” also returns after taking the television drama category last year, as well as “The Simpsons” in the television comedy category, which would be the show’s third consecutive win and ninth overall in the category.

Neither won.

Television Episodic Drama

“The Blacklist” (Sony/ NBCUniversal)
“The Crown” (Sony Pictures TV and Left Bank/ Netflix)
“The Handmaid’s Tale” (Hulu)
“The Path” (NBCUniversal & Hulu)

Winner: "The Crown" for the episode "Act of God."

Out of this group, I would have expected "The Handmaid's Tale" to be the favorite.  However, "Act of God," which is about an episode of London fog, the original sulfurous smog, works for me, too.  I just lectured on air pollution yesterday and could have mentioned this episode to my students.  Next semester.

Television Episodic Comedy

“Casual” (Hulu)
“The Daily Show With Trevor Noah” (Comedy Central/Viacom)
“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” (HBO)
“The Simpsons” (Fox)

Winner: "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" for episode/segment "Coal."

It is no secret that I'm a fan of John Oliver, so I not only agree with this choice, I'm delighted.  I plan on featuring the segment and the controversy around it in a future post.

Reality Television

“Bill Nye Saves The World” (Netflix)
“Scraps” (A&E)
“VICE” (HBO)
“Years of Living Dangerously” (Fox & National Geographic)

Winner: "Years of Living Dangerously" for episode "Collapse of the Oceans."

I wrote about "Years of Living Dangerously" when it debuted three years ago, so I'm not surprised it got honored.  That written, if I had blogged about these awards before the winners were announced, I would have picked "Vice" based on the awards history.  Good thing I didn't; I would have been wrong.

Children’s Television

“Hello World!” (Discovery Channel)
“Miles From Tomorrowland” (Disney ABC Television Group)
“Sesame Street” (HBO)

Winner: Sesame Street for "The Recycling Fairy."

"The Recycling Fairy" -- now that's an idea whose time has come!


Other than following up on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver's "Coal," that should be it for these awards for this year.  Stay tuned for this year's nominees for the Critics' Choice Awards.