CANNES, France, April 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- MIPTV -- The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced last night the winners of the International Digital Emmy® Awards at a ceremony organized in partnership with Reed MIDEM and attended by over 300 international executives from the television, broadband and mobile industries.

HIGHRISE: Out My Window (National Film Board of Canada), an interactive web documentary about high-rises and the stories of the people who live in them throughout 13 different cities, won in the Non-Fiction Category. Battlefront II (Raw TV/Airlock for Channel 4), which follows 12 young people running campaigns to change the world, won its second Digital Emmy Award in the Children & Young People Category. Shankaboot (Batoota films/BBC World Service Trust) a webseries conceived as a vehicle for exploring social problems which are often overlooked by mainstream media in the Arab world, garnered the first Digital Emmy Award for Lebanon by winning the Fiction Category. Complete information on the winners follows this release.

The Pioneer Prize was presented to Jon M. Chu the Creator and Executive Producer of the global online dance phenomenon The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers for innovative contributions to the field of digital entertainment.

"This year's winners attest to the power of social media throughout the world," said Bruce L. Paisner, President & CEO of The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. "We congratulate them for being on the cutting edge of a vital new form of expression."

The 2011 International Digital Emmy® Awards Winners

Digital Program: Non-Fiction

HIGHRISE: Out My Window

National Film Board of Canada

Canada

Delivered entirely on the web, the stories of HIGHRISE: Out My Window span the globe: from Latin America's largest vertical squat to a massively renovated post-Soviet highrise suburb in the Czech Republic. It features 49 stories from 13 cities, told in 13 languages, accompanied by an indie-band music playlist.

Digital Program: Children & Young People

Battlefront II

Raw TV/Airlock for Channel 4

UK

Battlefront II follows 12 young people running campaigns to change the world. Battlefront exists on air and online. A new feature of the website is the Start Your Own Campaign section, which encourages visitors to set up their very own campaigns. Other new additions to the site include a fortnightly web-show hosted by YouTube talent Alex Day.

Digital Program: Fiction

Shankaboot

Batoota films/BBC World Service Trust

Lebanon

Shankaboot is a webseries conceived as a vehicle for exploring social problems which are often overlooked by mainstream media in the Arab world. The aim of the project is to present these issues from a fresh perspective and to prompt an exchange of opinion between young adults across the region.

Note to editors

ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY

The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is a membership based organization comprised of leading media and entertainment figures from over 50 countries and 500 companies from all sectors of television including internet, mobile and technology. The Academy's yearly schedule of events includes the prestigious International Emmy® Awards Ceremony held in New York, The International Digital Emmy® Awards at MIPTV and a series of industry events such as Academy Day, The International Emmy® World Television Festival and Panels on substantive industry topics. The Academy was chartered with a mission to recognize excellence in television produced outside of the United States and it presents The International Emmy® Awards in the following fifteen categories: Arts Programming; Best Performance by an Actress; Best Performance by an Actor; Current Affairs; Children & Young People; Comedy; Digital Program: Children & Young People; Digital Program: Fiction; Digital Program: Non-Fiction; Documentary; Drama Series; News; Non-Scripted Entertainment; Telenovela; TV Movie/Mini-Series. For more information go to www.iemmys.tv.

ABOUT REED MIDEM

Founded in 1963, Reed MIDEM is a leading organiser of professional, international tradeshows. Reed MIDEM events have established themselves as key dates in professional diaries. The company hosts MIPTV, MIPDOC, MIPCOM, and MIPJUNIOR for the television and digital content industries, MIDEM for music professionals, MIPIM, MIPIM Asia, MIPIM HORIZONS and MAPIC for the property and retail real estate sectors.

Reed Exhibitions is the world's leading events organiser, with over 460 events in 36 countries covering 44 industry sectors. In 2010 Reed brought together over seven million active event participants from around the world generating billions of dollars in business. Today Reed events are held throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, and organised by 34 fully staffed offices.

SOURCE Reed MIDEM