‘The Lizzie Bennet Diaries’ Wins An Emmy Award

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Interactive Media Peer Group has announced the five digital media programs that have won this year’s crop of Creative Arts Emmys. Among the usual suspects (online TV companions, TV channel mobile apps, etc.), one plucky YouTube series stands out: The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. The Streamy winner added the Emmy for Original Interactive Program to its trophy case, becoming one of the most popular web series to ever win an Emmy statuette.

Lizzie Bennet‘s transmedia elements–including its characters’ Twitter accounts and the entire world created around the series and its spinoffs–play crucial roles in securing the Emmy. Last year’s Original Program winner, Dirty Work, also included copious viewer interaction, and the Academy seems inclined to reward online programs that successfully turn storytelling into a game, and thanks in large part to its rabid, active fanbase, Lizzie Bennet seamlessly pulled off that fusion.

Three other digital programs received Emmys thanks to the Academy’s decision to expand beyond the two awards it handed out in this division last year. The other winners were Oprah’s Lifeclass for Social TV Experience, the Nick App for User Experience and Visual Design, and Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen for Multplatform Storytelling. Awarding an Emmy to Top Chef rewards the Bravo TV program for its dedicated approach to web-based programming, which it recently continued by debuting Padma’s Picks.

We love The Lizzie Bennet Diaries here at Tubefilter, so we’re excited to see it get the recognition it deserves. Here’s hoping Pemberley Digital’s next Jane Austen adaptation, Emma Approved, does just as fine a job of engaging its audience and turning web video into an interactive environment.