Student wins two local Emmys

In the television world many broadcast journalists work for years to even get nominated for an Emmy Award. Nineteen-year-old mass communications major Sofia Briley, was not only nominated for two local Emmys this past year-she won them.

Briley received the Emmys this past June from the National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Briley has been an intern at Prince William Channel 23 since July 2006. The station has a small staff including Michael Gillette, cable television coordinator for Prince William County government, and a few interns – including Briley.

“I do a lot of things in the office; from hosting documentaries, doing interviews (and) producing and editing public service announcements,” Briley said. “I’ll do anything else that Mike will need me to do.”

She won her first Emmy for “Do It for Me, Part 2,” a public service announcement about why people conserve energy. This past year, “Do It For Me, Part 1,” was nominated for an Emmy, but did not win.

“We did a survey asking why adults would conserve the Earth’s energy,” Briley said.

“Seventy-eight percent of the adults said they were conserving the Earth’s energy for their children’s future generations.”
Briley won her second Emmy for “Hand-washing 101,” a public service announcement teaching kids how to properly wash their hands by running them under hot water and using soap while singing “Happy Birthday” twice.

“I was so excited when the station was nominated. It was just so surreal,” Briley said. “I didn’t want to get too excited. We were going up against huge stations in the mid-atlantic region like the Pentagon Channel, NBC, ABC and the Discovery Channel.”

“I was so nervous that night. Then they called my name for the first Emmy and it took me a couple seconds to even realize they were calling my name,” Briley said. “Then, as I sat down from receiving my first one, they turned around and called my name for the second Emmy.”

Fashion merchandising major Jillian Gonzalez is impressed with Briley’s accomplishments.

“I think it’s absolutely amazing that someone our age has worked so hard and has already been rewarded for it,” Gonzalez said. “It sounds like Sofia definitely deserves it.”

Gillette said winning two Emmys is a significant accomplishment.

“It’s very rare for someone Sofia’s age to win not just one, but two Emmys,” Gillette said. “She has very good instincts – like someone who has been working the field of broadcasting for 20 or 30 years.”

“I’ve never seen anyone with as much talent as Sofia,” Gillette said. “Basically, she could do anything she wanted and write her own ticket into the television world.”