Geidner wins two national Tellys 

Knoxville, Tenn. — University of Tennessee associate professor of journalism and director of Land Grant Films Nick Geidner won two national Telly Awards for social videos he produced during the pandemic. 

“I’m really excited about these awards, because we were really limited in what we were able to safely produce during the work-at-home period of the pandemic,” Geidner said. “So to have some of that work — produced under such limitations — awarded is really an honor.”

Geidner won a Silver Telly in the social-news and informational category for an explainer video he created about the FDA’s emergency use authorization process. The video featured UT Health Science professor Brian Winbigler. 

He also won a Bronze Telly Award for a piece of video commentary he created about the uselessness of standardized tests for K-12 education during the pandemic. The piece was originally published by Tennessee Lookout

In addition to producing these pieces, Geidner used the production process to develop a model for teaching students in the School of Journalism and Electronic Media how to create high-quality, well-produced social videos. He is currently using that model on a TVA-funded video series, called JobPop, coming to East Tennessee PBS this fall. 


The Telly Awards are the world’s largest honor for video and television content across all screens. Winners of the 43rd Telly Awards were announced on May 24, 2022. Awardees included a variety of top-tier brands and organizations as well as smaller media companies such as ViacomCBS, Warner Bros. Worldwide TV Marketing, Sony Music Entertainment, Microsoft, ESPN, PBS Digital Studios, Mytonomy, Freethink, Nice Shoes, CTRL5, Feed the Children, Square, Crunchyroll and Fast Company. This year’s edition received over 11,000 entries and saw an increase in global submissions from Australia, Mexico, across Europe (Germany, Spain, France) and Asia (Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan).

Land Grant Films is an Emmy-nominated documentary production program housed in the School of Journalism and Electronic Media at the University of Tennessee. The program’s mission is to provide students with real world documentary production experience, while providing local non-profit organizations and community organizations with video assets they can use to raise funds and awareness. Most recently, Land Grant Films produced The Library That Dolly Built, a feature-length documentary about Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.