Durham, NC studio Horizon Productions has received the prestigious Midsouth Regional Emmy Award for its documentary film, Shaw Rising. The award was announced at the 35th annual Midsouth Regional Emmy Award ceremony on February 27, 2021.
Shaw Rising tells the tumultuous and inspiring story of Shaw University, the first historically black college and university (HBCU) in the South and among the oldest in the nation. The school was founded in Raleigh, NC in 1865 by Dr. Henry Martin Tupper, a Massachusetts native, who served as a chaplain in the Union Army during the Civil War.
Shaw boasts many “firsts”: the first college in the nation to offer a four-year medical program, the first historically Black college in the nation to open its doors to women, and the first historically Black college in North Carolina to be granted an “A” rating by the State Department of Public Instruction. Dr. Paulette Dillard currently serves as the University’s 18th President.
Shaw Rising traces Shaw’s story from its founding and growth during Reconstruction, through the challenges of the Jim Crow system and the modern Civil Rights movement, to today.
The film production was led by Horizon’s Chief Production Officer Tim Finkbiner, in partnership with Hal Goodtree of Goodtree Studio. This is the second Midsouth Regional Emmy Award for Finkbiner and Horizon, who won the Emmy in 2011 for their documentary film, Birth of a Colony, about the early history of North Carolina. Funded by the AJ Fletcher Foundation, additional collaborators and supporters of the Shaw Rising documentary include, Travis Mitchell, formerly Chief Content Officer for UNC-TV, and the leadership of Shaw University. The film is available to view on PBS North Carolina and on the Shaw University YouTube channel.
