itvt

At the MIPTV conference in Cannes earlier this month, the
International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced the
winners of its International Interactive Emmy Awards (note: the
awards, which were organized in partnership with Reed MIDEM, were
hosted by UK comedian, Brian Conley). The winners (together with
descriptions of their winning projects, provided by the International
Academy) were:

• Best Interactive Program: Finland’s Invisio for “Staraoke” (”‘Staraoke’
  is an interactive cross-media concept, which combines a TV show for
  kids with a karaoke-type PC game and a Web community. The
  Staraoke PC game is a singing game where the player controls the
  game character on the screen with the pitch of his/her voice. The
  software recognizes the pitch and gives points accordingly. Kids are
  instructed to download a demo of the Staraoke game from the show’s
  Web site, record their performance, and send the file to the show’s
  producers. Every third competitor of the Staraoke TV show is chosen
  from online submissions.”)
• Best Interactive Channel: the UK’s JD Project Ltd. for WeDigTV
  (”WeDigTV is the world’s first TV2 network. TV2 is a platform which
  allows viewers to dictate the terms of their interactive video experience.
  By delivering seemingly linear broadcasts to the user that are in fact
  fully interactive, TV2 makes the format-type show compelling and
  relevant in an age of true video-on-demand. In each show, the user is
  able to engage with the host and ultimately decide the fate of their
  experience within the show itself. WeDigTV brings the user as close as
  possible to being in the contestant’s chair without actually sitting
  there.”)
  
• Best Interactive Television Service: Sweden’s Sveriges Television
  and The company P for “The Truth about Marika” (’The Truth About
  Marika’ is a participation drama–a production created to enrich a drama
  series through the participation of viewers. The story takes place on
  television, national radio, the Internet and mobile phone. Every week
  theories are discussed live in a show that has been enhanced with
  participatory content that exposes the truth about Marika in the end.
  Viewers are directly involved in the plot and its conclusion. Mobile
  phones become an important tool in the twilight zone between fiction
  and reality and bring the story out on the street into a fiction without
  limits.” For more on “The Truth About Marika,”
  see [itvt]’s recent
  interview in Issue 7.74 with Magnus Eriksson and Christian Bjorkman
  of Mindark, the company behind the virtual world, Entropia, which also
  played an important role in the alternate reality game that enhanced the
  show.)