The 2025 Upper Midwest Emmy Nominations were announced today and I’m proud to say that we received 5 total. I’m very thankful and humbled by these nominations. I was surprised, however, at what we submitted that DIDN’T get nominated. I’ll list them all below.
According to their website:
“The Upper Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is a membership organization dedicated to excellence in video and television by honoring exceptional work, past and present; providing professional development and outreach; and nurturing the next generation of television professionals.”
The regional awards cover Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Dakotas and Iowa. Hundreds of media pros from tv, radio and digital spaces submit their work from the previous year. It’s then judged by other media pros in a different region. We do the same for them.
Related: See shows that have been awarded an Upper Midwest Emmy in the past here:
–Barotrauma Research
– 2024 Noms
– 2023 Noms
– 2022 Noms
– 2021 Noms
– 2020 Awards
– See a list of Awards and Noms
While I’ve always felt that the Emmy’s aren’t the perfect place for outdoor content, we usually sneak a few awards each year. It’s hard to predict what will win of course, but more often than not, it’s our story-telling and conservation episodes. You may have judges that have never hunted or fished, so hitting them with something that has broader appeal usually helps.
That was the case once again this year as we are nominated in Environment/Science category for our show on cyanobacteria in Lake Superior. Cyanobacteria is also known as blue green algae. This is also the safest category for us.
The segment, “A Superior Threat” can be seen in this episode:
We did receive a nomination for our story on Carl Ahrnt. He’s a taxidermist who’s honed his craft for almost 70 (!!) years. We were really proud to get this one in there because he’s a great guy. It’s also a neat story, but it involves hunting, killing and mounting a deer. You worry that some judges might be turned off by this. We’ll see how the final verdict comes down.
We were lucky to have a nomination in the Business/Consumer category. We highlight businesses in the outdoor space here in Minnesota in some of our shows. This one involved a cold-weather job that could be dangerous: Vehicle recovery on frozen lakes. We visited City Line Towing in Willmar and joined them on an area lake as they recovered a truck that fell through the ice.
You can see both of these segments in this episode:
Another one of our favorite episodes also involved a cold day last winter. We joined Royal Oaks Elementary school on Como Lake. Urban Ice Anglers, Baztec, Tickets For Kids and a few other organizations were working toward a goal of getting 10,000 kids out ice fishing. We watched as buses came and went. Smiling kids streamed out, bundled up tightly, and went fishing. It was great to see the area schools embrace the idea. The organizers and volunteers did an incredible job with this monumental task. Watch the episode here:
Cindy Dorn was also nominated as a writer for our story on 21 Roots Farm. Based in Stillwater, this farm is unique because of who works there.
“Providing a place for children and adults with developmental disabilities to connect with nature, community, and dignity through farming.”
You can learn more about 21 Roots here:
I’m really disappointed that our segment on Old Dogs didn’t win. I’ve heard from so many people that thought this would be a slam dunk for the Emmys. Dogs are the best. Everyone loves old dogs and we shared some amazing stories about dogs we know. I would like to know what animal hater didn’t vote for this, haha!
I’m also surprised that our history tour of the Northwest Angle didn’t get a nom. This was another one that we all felt would be a hit with the judges. The area itself is a wild story and all the events that took place there could have filled all 13 episodes of the season. Watch for yourself and tell me what you think:
I’m going to list one more on here, just because I felt some of the footage was the best I’ve gotten. The category was for “solo storyteller”. I filmed, edited, wrote and hosted everything in this segment. It was really an excuse to get my pheasant footage into an episode and I thought that it alone would help get the nomination. Plus the idea of building habitat for wildlife is so important to everyone that it seemed like it could get on the list. Oh well. You can watch it in this episode after our sub-gauge pheasant hunt:
What do you think? Did we get robbed on a couple of these? Let us know and tell us what your favorite episode of the season was! Watch for our new season starting up next March on Pioneer PBS or on a PBS station near you.
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