Trib Total Media nominated for 2 Mid-Atlantic Emmy awards

Trib Total Media is a finalist for two Mid-Atlantic Emmy awards.

The newspaper’s “Tree of Life: One Year Later” video was nominated in the Documentary category. The video “The Return of the Clark Bar” was nominated in the Historic-Culture New Single Story category. The Mid-Atlantic Emmys are the mid-Atlantic chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

The winners will be announced Sept. 19 during a virtual ceremony.

“We are humbled and grateful for this recognition of the visual storytelling efforts by our tremendously talented staff,” said Jennifer Bertetto, president and CEO of Trib Total Media. “From the start of the Tree of Life project, our staff was committed to building a living tribute to the victims and families touched by this horrific day in the history of our city.”

The Tree of Life documentary tells the story of the events on and after the Oct. 27, 2018, mass shooting. A gunman killed 11 worshippers from Tree of Life-Or L’Simcha, New Light and Dor Hadash congregations, and injured several others, including police officers.

The Trib captured the voices of people who were present that day, and who are dedicated to the healing. It includes extensive interviews with survivors, family members of victims, community leaders and public safety officials.

Trib Total Media Executive Editor Susan McFarland said many involved in producing the Tree of Life video covered the shooting or its aftermath. Some staffers would learn that they knew some of the victims as the incident unfolded.

“We thank the families who selflessly opened their homes and their lives to us to produce this video. They will never be forgotten in the same way that those who died that day will be a part of us forever,” McFarland said.

The video shot by photographer Sean Stipp marked the rebirth of the Clark Bar. The famous Pittsburgh candy bar was originally made on the city’s North Side, where Irish immigrant David L. Clark founded the D.L. Clark Co. in 1886.

It was sold to a food conglomerate in 1955, and the Clark Bar was produced by a succession of candy makers over the years. The Clark Bar, with its crispy peanut butter and spun taffy core, coated in milk chocolate, came back in February and is being made at Boyer Candy Co. in Altoona.