DOCUMENTARY PRODUCED FOR UNM CENTER FOR FAMILY AND COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS EARNS NATIONAL TELLY AWARD

June 11, 2003

DOCUMENTARY PRODUCED FOR UNM CENTER FOR FAMILY AND COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS EARNS NATIONAL TELLY AWARD

The documentary "How are the Children?" the first in a multi-part series on the status of children and families in New Mexico has won a national, silver Telly Award, a top award for broadcast television.

Cooney Productions produced the program for the University of New Mexico Center for Family & Community Partnerships in the College of Education. The documentary was funded under a grant to the center awarded by the New Mexico Office of Child Development, Children, Youth and Families Department.

The program was broadcast on KRQE-TV, Ch. 13, and several public-broadcasting affiliates in New Mexico.

UNM College of Education Professor Polly Turner, director for the Center for Family & Community Partnerships, said, "We are very excited by this award for a program that sent a strong message about the importance of the early years for a child's long-term development. That message was sent so effectively by the collaboration of people involved in this project. It is always exciting to work with Cooney Productions, which has produced more than 60 documentaries on New Mexico social and environmental issues and has won 17 Telly Awards."

The Telly Award is among the most sought-after honors in the television, commercial, and video industry. More than 20 production professionals judge the more than 10,000 entries submitted to the competition annually. The awards program was founded in 1980 to showcase non-network and cable film and video productions.

UNM was the first underwriter in a planned series of documentaries on children and families in the state. A second documentary will hopefully be funded and produced in the next year, said Jim Cooney of Cooney Productions.

For more information, contact Polly Turner, UNM, 277-4135; Dan Haggard, OCD, 827-6614; or Jim Cooney, Cooney Productions, 293-2000.

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