The China Daily Hong Kong Edition has once again demonstrated its excellence in video production, winning six awards at the 47th Annual Telly Awards. The winners were announced on Tuesday.
The Telly Awards, established in 1979, is a premier award program honoring excellence in video and television across all screens. Judged by an esteemed panel of over 250 industry experts, this record-breaking year drew more than 13,000 global entries. Submissions came from creators, brands, and production companies across 55 countries.
The China Daily Hong Kong multimedia team bagged two silver and three bronze awards across five works, while the new media team won a silver award.
The silver award winners
Where are King Solomon’s Mines?
Award & Category: Silver Telly Winner | Film & Shorts – Nonfiction Category
Key Merits:
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Technological innovation: This piece represents pioneering filmmaking, leaning perfectly into the 47th Telly Awards’ expansion into the Generative AI vertical.
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Visual reconstruction: Evoking Ken Burns’ historical style of using panning photography, this film utilizes cutting-edge AI video models to dynamically recreate historical environments that only exist in written text, creating a highly engaging and educational nonfiction experience.
Swinging for Tomorrow
Award & Category: Silver Telly Winner | Film & Shorts – Student Category
Key Merits:
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Compelling subculture storytelling: The documentary shines a light on a largely overlooked community – the development and rise of baseball in China.
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Masterful narrative arc: Centered on a lovable, charismatic orphan trying to break out of a difficult life, the film contrasts tropes found in fiction with raw, painful real-world truths, culminating in a powerful, celebratory resolution.
Discovering Dunhuang: Friends Afar
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Awards & Category: Silver Telly Winner | Film & Shorts – Culture & Lifestyle
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Key Merits:
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Emotional Depth: The film follows an American ballet dancer as she travels to Dunhuang, China, in search of the ancient “Feitian” (Apsaras) dance. By immersing herself in local cuisine, customs, and traditional culture, she builds authentic friendships with the people she meets – turning her journey into a heartfelt story that transcends national borders. The film’s most precious quality is its sincerity. Whatever changes in the world, genuine emotion still resonates, highlighting that human connection is the core strength that truly moves audiences.
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Multidimensional story-telling: The film portrays Dunhuang as a real, vibrant oasis city with a thousand-year legacy while highlighting the enduring vitality of the “Silk Road spirit” – resilient, shared, and still profoundly relevant in today’s world.
The bronze award winners
Dancing in the Gobi Desert
Award & Category: Bronze Telly Winner | Branded Content – Travel & Tourism
Key Merits:
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Social-First optimization: This promotional film perfectly adapts to the modern multi-screen environment by weaving a cohesive narrative that can be modularly clipped into five distinct viral short-form videos.
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Trend integration: By leveraging the TikTok dance craze within a traditional narrative structure, it masterfully balances corporate branding with organic, highly shareable social media engagement.
Back to Back
Award & Category: Bronze Telly Winner | Film & Shorts – Outdoor & Adventure
Key Merits:
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Immersive access: Operating as an intimate, fly-on-the-wall documentary, the film tracks the intense physical and mental hardships of the first Chinese woman to complete two of the world’s most demanding ultra-marathons consecutively.
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Emotional resonance: The success of the film relies on the protagonist’s transparent, vulnerable personality and the filmmaker’s uncanny ability to capture pivotal, high-stakes moments, delivering a profound emotional payoff that resonates deeply with the viewer.
Beauty is Pain
Award & Category: Bronze Telly Winner | Film & Shorts – Student Category
Key Merits:
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Thematic depth: The documentary tackles a critical contemporary social issue – the systemic and societal pressures forced upon young women to conform to rigid body standards across educational, familial, and work environments.
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Historical contextualization: By framing today’s struggles against historical eras where female bodies were physically restricted, the student filmmaker adds analytical weight and perspective to an observational, deeply human narrative.