2015 Television Awards

Presented by Cinema/Chicago

Cinema/Chicago and the Chicago International Film Festival have announced the winners of the 51st Chicago International Film Festival Television Awards.

The awards were presented to an audience of over 250 television and advertising industry guests at the Hyatt Chicago Magnificent Mile on April 22, 2015. Dan Ponce of WGN-TV and Ji Suk Yi of WLS-TV/Windy City Live hosted the special evening honoring those in the television industry. Six special awards were presented throughout the night. The Onion and Onion Labs received a Commitment to Excellence in New Media award for their dynamic online content, WBBM-TV journalist Jay Levine received a Commitment to Excellence in Investigative Journalism Award for his astonishing work in the field, and Canon received an Innovation Award for their accessible, professional line of EOS Cameras. These honorees were joined by Chicago advertising executive Tom Burrell, who received the Chicago Legend in Advertising Award, post-production company Whitehouse Post, who received a Commitment to Excellence in Advertising Award, and WGN-TV meteorologist Tom Skilling, who was honored with the Chicago Award.

In the competition portion of the awards ceremony the competition’s top prize, the Gold Hugo, went to Leo Burnett (Hallmark) for best commercial campaign, and The Richards Group (FIAT) for best television commercial. For television productions, Gold Hugos went to Florentine Films (The Roosevelts: An Intimate History), NBC Universal (Chicago Fire: A Dark Day), Radio Television Hong Kong (Roots Old and New: Stories of Chinese Emigrants), and PBS (American Masters) for productions. For the 51st year, WTTW11 presented a program of commercials competing for the Audience Choice Award, where audiences were encouraged to vote online for their favorite commercial. This year’s voting deemed Whitehouse Post and Leo Burnett winners for “Pick Up” (Firestone).