SANTA MONICA, Calif. (Top40 Charts/ EMA) - The Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) announced that "CSI" creator Anthony E. Zuiker is the recipient of its inaugural
Digital Entertainment Visionary Award. It also announced that iTunes, "The Office," and ROKU, Inc. are the recipients of its second annual "Digi" Awards, which recognize outstanding achievement in digital entertainment retailing, content, and innovation.
Anthony E. Zuiker, the recipient of the Digital Entertainment Visionary Award, has revolutionized story-telling by allowing readers to move seamlessly from books, to film, to the web. The first of these innovative multi-platform publications, coined digi-novels, is Zuiker's "Level 26 - Dark Origins," released by Dutton on September 8. Zuiker is also the creator and executive producer of the successful "CSI" franchise, which now includes "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "CSI: Miami," and "CSI: New York."
iTunes received the Digital Retailer "Digi" Award, which recognizes outstanding service by a company that sells or rents audiovisual works to the consumer through Internet-based (or IP) digital delivery (including subscription-based services). iTunes also received this award last year.
NBC Universal's "The Office" won the Digital Content "Digi" Award, which recognizes the movie, episodic television, or other audiovisual work most uniquely or successfully marketed and sold/rented through Internet-based digital delivery over the past year, or that gave the consumer the best digital experience.
ROKU, Inc. was presented the Innovation "Digi" Award, which recognizes the company that, through innovation, has most impacted the growth of Internet-based digital delivery of audiovisual works over the past year.
"As the digital entertainment business continues to grow, it is important to recognize those companies, products, and individuals that are leading the industry," noted EMA President and CEO Bo Andersen. "This year's honorees have set high standards for the industry to emulate."
The awards were presented at EMA's Digital Media Pipeline, held at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. The one-day event brought together more than 100 digital entertainment content owners, service providers, and retailers to learn about and discuss emerging technologies and business models, sources of content, the potential market, and legal issues for digital entertainment.
