New York Festivals (NYF) Storytellers Gala proudly announces the 2026 TV & Film Awards winners.
The New York Festivals TV & Film Grand Jury celebrated exceptional storytelling from creators in television and film around the world. Award-winning entries spanned an expansive range of genres, including primetime entertainment, documentaries, investigative reporting, sports programming, promotional content, streaming platforms, and brand films, with documentaries emerging as a defining force this year.
2026 Broadcaster of the Year
Mediacorp, Singapore’s largest content creator and national media network, and home to Channel NewsAsia, was named Broadcaster of the Year at the 2026 New York Festivals TV & Film Awards, recognized for its outstanding achievements in entertainment programming and documentary storytelling. The honor reflects the strength and range of Mediacorp’s storytelling, with a powerful slate of Gold-winning documentaries spanning human rights, social issues, history and society, and health and medical information.
Among the Gold-winning titles were Vapours of Death, Chinese Matchmakers, Separation: Declassified Parts 1 & 2, Addicted: The Synthetic Curse, and One “Orphan” Every Hour, which also earned a Gold Tower for Direction. Mediacorp also secured top honors in Promotion and Craft, including Gold for Open ID, Editing for Blockbuster Sunday: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, and Multi-Platform Promotion for the Emerald Hill Launch Campaign. In total, Mediacorp earned eight Gold Towers, along with one Silver, four Bronze, and 18 Finalist honors, underscoring its continued creative excellence across genres and platforms.
Tham Loke Kheng, Chief Executive Officer of Mediacorp, said, “Being named Broadcaster of the Year at the New York Festivals is a meaningful recognition of the depth, consistency and calibre of work across Mediacorp’s content slate. This accolade reflects not just individual achievements, but the collective strength of our teams in delivering distinctive storytelling that resonates with audiences across genres and platforms — from our premium entertainment content to our flagship news and current affairs offerings via our global channel, CNA Originals. As Singapore’s national media network, we remain committed to shaping trusted narratives that reflect the diversity and shared experiences of our communities, while upholding editorial rigour and creative ambition. We see this recognition as an encouragement to continue championing original ideas, developing talent, and advancing the quality and impact of content from Singapore to the world.”
2026 Production Company of the Year
For the third consecutive year, Zinc Media Group has been named Production Company of the Year at the New York Festivals TV & Film Awards, reinforcing its position as a global leader in storytelling. Known for craft-driven storytelling across factual and branded content, Zinc continues to deliver work that resonates with audiences worldwide.
This year, Zinc Media Group companies garnered an impressive range of honors, including four Gold Towers awarded to Arrivals by The Edge, The Day Diana Died by Atomic TV, and Live Aid at 40: When Rock ‘n’ Roll Took on the World (Brook Lapping) and Nick Cave’s Veiled World (Supercollider, a Zinc Media Group company). The group’s achievements also included five Silver Towers, three Bronze, and two Finalist Awards, reflecting its continued creative excellence.
“On behalf of everyone at Zinc Media Group, thank you to the New York Festivals for this incredible honour. To be named Production Company of the Year amongst such revered peers is a genuine privilege, and we’re proud to be representing both the UK and the Middle East’s TV and Film production sectors on this global stage.
The breadth of Zinc projects recognised reflects the creative ambition that runs through everything we do, across every market we work in. Thank you to our clients and commissioners for trusting us to keep telling bold, distinctive stories, and to our wider team across every Zinc company and freelance crew, this award belongs to you.
It’s a brilliant boost as we head into the year ahead. Thank you, New York Festivals.” —Mark Browning, CEO, Zinc Media Group
2026 Grand Awards
Ending Wars and Making Peace (ZDF Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) Documentary – International Affairs.
This 90-minute Grand Award–winning documentary explores one of the most urgent questions of our time: how wars end and what enables lasting peace. Against a backdrop of rising geopolitical tension, it offers rare access to architects of peace, individuals who have risked careers and reputations to turn conflict into dialogue. Through a constructive journalistic lens, it reveals the hidden architecture of peacebuilding and the creativity, insight, and courage required to break cycles of violence.
One Hundred and Thirteen (Windlight Pictures GmbH) Entertainment Program – Crime Drama
Grand Award-winning Hundertdreizehn (One Hundred and Thirteen) is a six-part drama series produced in Germany and Austria, inspired by a study from the German Federal Ministry of Transport showing that a single traffic fatality directly affects an average of 113 people.
Anchored by a catastrophic bus accident on an inner-city elevated highway, the series follows the interconnected lives of family members, first responders, witnesses, and investigators, all profoundly altered by the event. Blending character-driven storytelling with an accessible narrative, it explores grief, responsibility, memory, and the far-reaching consequences of individual actions, resonating with a broad and diverse audience.
The Disappearance of Miss Scott (4th Act Factual LLC) Documentary – Biography/Profiles
The Disappearance of Miss Scott earned the Grand Award. This documentary, airing on PBS ‘American Masters,’ is an intimate and urgent reclamation of the life and legacy of Hazel Scott—virtuoso pianist, Hollywood trailblazer, civil rights crusader, and the first Black person to host a nationally syndicated television show. Despite her groundbreaking achievements, Scott’s story has largely faded from public memory, and this film brings it back into focus. Her journey is framed not as tragedy, but as a reflection of America’s racial and political contradictions.
2026 Lifetime Achievement Award
Distinguished news leader Stephen Capus, President of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and former President of NBC News, was honored with the New York Festivals 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award. NYF recognizes prominent industry leaders whose accomplishments and contributions have advanced their field and made a lasting impact on the industry. Over the course of an accomplished 20-year career at NBC, including nearly eight years as President of NBC News, Capus oversaw global editorial operations and guided coverage of global events.
WaterBear Award
The Kimberley (Wild Pacific Media) Documentary – Nature & Wildlife
The Kimberley earned the 2026 WaterBear Award, honoring the highest-scoring documentary across the Climate Change & Sustainability, Environment & Ecology, and Nature & Wildlife categories. A three-part documentary two years in the making, guided by actor and musician Mark Coles Smith, it reimagines natural history through a First Nations lens, blending science, culture, and humor to explore deep connections to Country. Set in one of the world’s most remote and spectacular landscapes spanning more than 400,000 square kilometers in northwestern Australia, it reveals a vast tropical region of extraordinary biodiversity.
JusticeAid Award
My Father’s Hair (Keyi Productions) Documentary – Social Justice
My Father’s Hair earned the 2026 JusticeAid Award, presented to the highest-scoring entry across all Social Justice categories in the NYF TV & Film and Radio competitions. This special honor recognizes outstanding storytelling that confronts urgent social justice issues.
2026 JusticeAid Award winning My Father’s Hair, a documentary from Keyi Productions on ARTE, is an intimate portrait of a young woman reclaiming her voice, and of the fragile but determined forms of resistance led by women in a society where tradition, caste, and violence continue to shape the lives of millions.
View the 2026 TV & Film Awards Winners’ Showcase.
Documentary
Building on its reputation as a global destination for documentary storytelling, the expansive documentary categories delivered an exceptional body of Gold-winning work. This year’s winning entries span a wide range of timely and thought-provoking subjects.
Documentary Gold Tower winners include Live and Let Dai (South Pacific Pictures), Richard Burton: Wild Genius (Yeti Television), Becoming Madonna (All3Media International), Northwest Passage: The Arctic Labyrinth (MEDIAetc.), The Resilients – Report (Rai Radiotelevisione Italiana), Best of the World’s Destinations: Guizhou S2 (National Geographic), Whose Land Is It? – Beyond Borders (TRT World), 1995: Voices from the Front Lines (Fuji Television Network, Inc.), The Seodaemun Prison (Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), Korea), Unsolved Cases: The North Korean Abductions Part 1 & 2 (NHK, Japan Broadcasting Corporation), Rewilding Sharks (Kraken Films), Why Cities Flood (Windfall Films), The Idea of Australia (Blackfella Films Pty Ltd), Roadtrip 1945 (ZDF), The Moonies: Married to the Cult (All3Media International), Fault Lines – Kids Under Fire (Al Jazeera English), The City Ruled by Gangs (SBS), Forgotten: Haiti Taken by Gangs (MediaLinks TV LLC), and The Resurrection Quest (Storyteller Films).
In Nature & Wildlife, exceptional storytelling earned Gold recognition for Mighty Monkeys, with both NHK and Doclights GmbH each earning a Gold Tower. Magical France – From Normandy to Brittany, also entered by Doclights GmbH, was recognized with a Gold Tower. Additional Gold Tower winners include Shells: Shaped by Nature; Penguin Baywatch, Episode 1: Tuxedo Summer Bash (Terra Mater Studios GmbH); Orangutans – The Mysterious People of the Forest (Zorillafilm / Grospitz & Westphalen Filmproduktion), The Song of Trees (KNN), and Return of the Cheetah (Warner Media Entertainment Networks Asia Pacific).
Entertainment
Engaging storytelling from around the globe across drama, performance, variety, and children’s categories earned Gold Towers: The Anatomy of a Moment and The Center (Movistar Plus+), Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in Basel (SRG SSR Schweizerische Radio- und Fernsehgesellschaft, Swiss Broadcasting Corporation), the 2025 China Media Group Mid-Autumn Festival Gala (China Media Group), and Bigsies and Littles (the downlowconcept). Silver Tower winners included Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light (Banijay Rights), Black Tide Island (Hakka TV), Queen of Mars (NHK), Dinastia Casillas (Telemundo Studios), The Assassin (All3Media International), Be My Guest (Pacific Television), Bestemming X (Geronimo Entertainment) Biggest Night Of Musicals By The National Lottery (TBI Media),and A Capitol Fourth 2025 (Capital Concerts).
Sports</
From defining moments to powerful storytelling, sports documentaries, entertainment, and features earned Gold Towers for capturing the true intensity of competition, including Big Dreams: The Little League World Series 2024, Empire Skate (ESPN Films) and Believers: Boston Red Sox (ESPN+). Silver Tower winners include Extreme Planet – Guatemala (TV Globo) and Wishbone (SEC Network).
News & Investigative Journalism
Breaking news, features, and investigative reporting delivered fast-moving, impactful storytelling across platforms. Gold Tower winners include Gaza Genocide (Al Jazeera English), The Story Continues – Ceasar Unmasked and Children Arrested (Al Jazeera Arabic), LA Wildfires (Sky News), The Icebreakers (China Global Television Network (CGTN)), and Haiti Malnutrition (MediaLinks TV LLC).
Streaming
In Streaming, exceptional comedy, documentary, and drama content from around the globe earned Silver Towers, including El Mejor Infarto De Mi Vida and Bellas Artes – S2 (Walt Disney Company Latam), Congo’s War (SBS Australia), and Scandal Eve (AbemaTV, Inc.).
Craft
Gold-winning work in direction, writing, visual effects, camerawork, and sound design showcased the power of craft, elevating storytelling through exceptional creative execution. Gold Tower winners include Bones of Contention – Direction (Elefant Films), ZeroDay Attack – Writing (ZeroDay Cultural and Creative Company Limited), Black Tide Island – Special Visual Effects (Hakka TV), IKTVA Infographic – Special Visual Effects (Aramco), Fabulous Insects – Ants – Camerawork (nautilusfilm GmbH), and Memory Journey 2: The Last Upload – Sound Design (Beijing 20k Miles Culture Communications Co., Ltd.).
Promos
Promotional work drove viewership by engaging audiences. Gold Towers were awarded to We Rise As We Fight (Promo TV Globo), BBC NL+ Stream the Best of Your British Neighbours (BBC Studios Distribution Limited), and D.I.D. 12 (Television Broadcasts Ltd.).
Corporate Image
Corporate and brand films championed the vision, values, and identity of top-tier brands and companies. Gold Tower winners include Back to the Beginning (BBDO Hong Kong), a three-category Gold winner, along with Archives and True Financial Crime – Human Trafficking (Media Zoo International), Dhahran Lakes and Local Manufacturer’s Quality Awards (Aramco), The First B2P Company – Josera Pet Food (Al Dente Entertainment GmbH), Integrating Everything, Everywhere (UC25 Act 1) (Esri), and Christmas Special 2024 (Mediaset España).
All entries in the 2026 competition were screened online by NYF’s TV & Film Awards international Grand Jury of 200+ producers, directors, writers, and other creative media professionals from around the globe. Entries were judged on a set of criteria including production values, creativity, content presentation, direction, writing, achievement of purpose, and audience suitability.
New York Festivals announced the NYF TV & Film Awards winning entries at the Storytellers Gala on May 21 at 6 p.m. EDT, in a virtual event featuring global highlights, winners’ acceptance speeches, and commentary from some of the industry’s most respected storytellers. Explore the 2026 Storytellers Gala. View the 2026 TV & Film Awards Winners’ Showcase.
For more information about NYF’s TV & Film Awards visit: HERE.
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