The fine line between Internet entertainment and television just got even blurrier.
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, the modern-day adaptation of Pride and Prejudice in video blog form, will receive an Interactive Media Emmy, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Interactive Media Peer Group announced Thursday, meant to reflect the Academy’s commitment to “second screen experiences and cutting edge ‘next generation’ content.”
Producers Bernie Su and Jay Bushman, along with transmedia editor Alexandra Edwards, will receive the Emmy for Original Interactive Program, adding to a stacked trophy shelf that already includes two Streamy Awards and an IAWTV Award.
Top Chef’s “Last Chance Kitchen,” Oprah’s Lifeclass, and the Nick App also won Interactive Media Emmys.
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, created by Su and Hank Green, started out as a video blog made by Lizzie Bennet and her best friend Charlotte Lu in March 2012, but with the help of transmedia, the characters’ stories were told through spin-off YouTube channels, Twitter, and other social media accounts.
Once the show ended in March 2013, a Kickstarter campaign helped fund a miniseries based on Sanditon, one of Jane Austen’s unfinished novels, where fans were invited to participate and become part of the story’s narrative. The team announced earlier this month that their next major webseries will be a take on Emma.
The team behind The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is ecstatic with the win and thanked the people who really made it happen: the fans.
Hugs, kisses, and awkward Vulcan salute fistbumps to the whole @TheLBDofficial family. The past year with you has been mind-blowing. #Emmy
— Alexandra Edwards (@nonmodernist) August 22, 2013
huge congrats to the entire @TheLBDofficial family. the real honor has been working with you guys #Emmy
— Jay Bushman (@jaybushman) August 22, 2013
Hey @TheLBDofficial fans. Thank you for your passion and support through this journey. We couldn’t have done it without you. #Emmys
— Bernie Su (@BernieSu) August 22, 2013
This isn’t the first webseries to win an Emmy. The Fine Brothers won for Best Viral Video Series for their Kids React series in 2012, but it’s believed that The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is the first narrative webseries to win an Emmy.
The winners will be presented during the Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Sept. 15.
H/T Yahoo | Photo via MingleMediaTVNetwork/YouTube
