And the winner is….
“One Week in October,” the Virginia War Memorial Foundation’s latest documentary, secures an Emmy® Award
The Virginia War Memorial Foundation and Blue Ridge PBS are proud to announce that the 2023 documentary One Week in October was awarded an Emmy® Award for Outstanding Military Documentary Film – Long Form Content by the Capital Emmys (The National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences) at the 66th Annual Emmy Awards in June. The Capital Emmys oversees The Emmy® Awards regionally, including all media outlets in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia. It stands as one of the largest NATAS Chapters in The National Academy with over 1,500 members.
The One Week in October film is the 26th in the Foundation’s award-winning documentary series, Virginians at War. The film examines two significant military events that occurred the same week of October 1983 through personal recollections of Virginia Veterans. The team accepting the award included Lisa Fenderson, Executive Producer; Andrew DePue, Editor; Curtis Schruth, Videographer/Editor; and Jay Prater, Narrator.
One Week in October premiered in Roanoke, VA at a private screening on October 23, 2023, the 40th anniversary of the bombing of the US Marine Corps Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. 241 U.S. Military personnel were killed, including 220 Marines. The incident was the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima. That same week, citing danger to U.S. citizens in Grenada, then President Ronald Reagan ordered nearly 2,000 troops to launch a military intervention, occupation, and evacuation. Operation Urgent Fury launched at dawn on October 25, 1983.
Within days, a terrorist attack and a perilous rescue attempt made headlines and history. 13 Virginians lost their lives during these events. Their names are carved on the wall of the Shrine of Memory – Global War on Terrorism at the Virginia War Memorial.
The Foundation hosted a second screening on Wednesday, October 25, 2023 in Richmond, at the Memorial, featuring a panel discussion with three of the Virginia Veterans featured in the film and moderated by Creative Co-Producer and Memorial Director Dr. Clay Mountcastle.
The film aired across the Commonwealth on all Virginia Public Television stations and in parts of Maryland, DC, West Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina on Thursday, October 26, and remains available for streaming online.
The co-production is the first film in the partnership of the VWMF with Blue Ridge PBS. It was created in the spirit of all the Foundation’s “Virginians at War” films, to share the first-hand stories of Virginians who witnessed and participated in critical moments in United States military history.
About Blue Ridge PBS
Blue Ridge Public Television Inc., founded in 1967, is the sole public multimedia enterprise serving 42% of the Commonwealth in addition to individuals in portions of three states. Through their over-the-air broadcast, cable channels and streaming channels, the station reaches southwestern, central and southside Virginia as well as bordering counties in Tennessee, West Virginia, and North Carolina. As the region’s storyteller, they offer outstanding informational, educational and cultural programming, along with an award-winning local production team devoted to regional issues and interests.
Based in Roanoke, Va., Blue Ridge Public Television Inc. is comprised of five broadcast channels: Blue Ridge PBS/WBRA-TV 15.1, Blue Ridge PBS 2 (formerly Southwest Virginia PTV) 15.2, Blue Ridge PBS Kids 15.3, Blue Ridge PBS Create 15.4, and ECHO (Education. Community. Health. Opportunity) 15.5, and three streaming channels: Blue Ridge Streaming, ECHO, and Project Southwest.
