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The City of Suffolk’s Media and Communications Department saw special recognition for their work in city video production.

During the Wednesday, August 7 council meeting held at City Hall, Suffolk Multi-Media Analysts Valorie Baker and Danny Epperson were presented as winners of the Silver Telly Award in the “Education and Training – Non-Broadcast” category. The winning video, “Managing the Mayday,” was a fire training video created in Feb. 2024 for Suffolk Fire and Rescue, highlighting key moments of training used within the fire department. 

The Telly Awards, founded in 1978, is the premier award that honors the finest in film and video productions, web commercials, film and videos as well as local, regional and cable TV commercials and programs. Director of Media and Community Relations Jennifer Moore provided more details during the special presentation. 

“Multi-Media Analysts Danny Epperson and Valorie Baker, along with Assistant Communications Director Andy Franklin, worked closely with Suffolk Fire Capt. Tommy Thomasson to film a mayday scenario at the old Driver Elementary building,” Moore said. “This training scenario depicted a mock-fire scene with a partial roof collapse trapping two firefighters. Our crew set up multiple cameras and worked alongside the fire crew and officials and firefighters to capture this critical moment, producing a 10 minute training video.”

Moore detailed that the video has been used by SFR and also has been published in Fire Engineering Magazine, the latter being used as a nationwide video resource.

“Having received great feedback from Suffolk Fire Chief Mike Barakey and Capt. Thomasson, our communications department submitted the training video for a Telly Award,” Moore said. “…Winning a Telly, on any level, is a prestigious mark of quality and creativity for any media professional.”