[StBernard] Louisiana Speaks Documentary Nominated for an Emmy

[Westley Annis]

Louisiana Speaks Documentary Nominated for an Emmy

'Our Voice, Our Plan, Our Future' up for Service Program Award at 2007 Suncoast Regional Emmy Awards

BATON ROUGE, La. (October 23, 2007) - The hour-long documentary "Louisiana Speaks: Our Voice, Our Plan, Our Future" produced by Louisiana Speaks and Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB) has been nominated for an Emmy award by the Suncoast Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The Suncoast Chapter will announce its awards December 1 at a ceremony in Kissimmee, Florida.

Hosted by Louisiana-born actress, Lynn Whitfield, the program was broadcast during the months of January and February on public television stations across Louisiana, in Atlanta, Dallas and Houston and also online. The program, which was made possible in part by a generous grant from the Fannie Mae Foundation, informed viewers about a range of issues, including community growth, transportation, coastal protection and economic development and was one arm of the major public outreach campaign to engage citizens across South Louisiana on their views about the region's future. The unprecedented response to this outreach campaign included more than 27,000 Louisianans voicing their opinions, which formed the basis of the Louisiana Speaks Regional Plan.

"The input of tens of thousands of citizens in this multi-generational recovery planning effort has been unprecedented in the United States," said Donna Fraiche, chair of the Louisiana Recovery Authority's (LRA) Long-Term Community Planning Task Force. "This documentary engaged diverse groups of people from all parts of Louisiana and many different walks of life. Their voices were heard through this exceptional televised viewing and the polling process that followed. This prestigious nomination validates the critical role of outreach in shaping Louisiana's vision for its future."

Louisiana Speaks is a long-term planning initiative of the LRA which was created in the wake of the destruction caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Spanning parishes from the Texas to Mississippi border-- including the Houma/Thibodaux, New Orleans, North Shore, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, St. Bernard and Plaquemines areas-- the Louisiana Speaks Regional Plan provides a broad strategic framework and priorities for land use, transportation, community growth and economic development in South Louisiana.

"This was a wonderful opportunity for LPB to demonstrate the power of public broadcasting as a communication and teaching medium," said Beth Courtney, President and CEO of LPB. "We could only produce this documentary in a short period of time because of our own ongoing commitment to news and public affairs. We drew on the rich material we have developed for our monthly Louisiana Public Square series and our documentary work following the storms. It was an extraordinary effort and collaboration that resulted in 27,000 votes. My wonderful colleagues in public television in Houston, Dallas and Atlanta also showed LPB's program to displaced Louisianans and we will be eternally grateful."

*	To view the documentary, click here <http://www.louisianaspeaks.org/video.html> .

Louisiana Speaks' Emmy nomination is the latest in a series of honors. In September, the Louisiana Chapter of the American Planning Association awarded the Louisiana Speaks Regional Plan with its "Current Topic Award," the Louisiana Speaks Planning Toolkit with its "Outstanding Planning Award for a project, program or tool" and the Louisiana Speaks Pattern Book with its "Public Education Award." 

In May, the Congress for New Urbanism also awarded the Louisiana Speaks Pattern Book its 2007 Charter Award, an annual prize honoring projects around the world that promote walkable, neighborhood development as an alternative to urban sprawl. And in March, editors of the online planning network, Planetizen.com, named www.louisianaspeaks.org <http://www.louisianaspeaks.org>  as one of the top ten best planning, design and development Web sites in the country. The Web site is managed by the Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX) and powered by KnowledgePlex due to a generous grant from the Fannie Mae Foundation. CPEX, which was created to serve as a resource for residents, community organizations, developers and elected officials to provide info! rmation on best practices for planning and urban design, provides primary support and management for the Louisiana Speaks.

"The honors heaped upon different parts of the Louisiana Speaks process confirm the caliber of the team of assembled to help guide Louisiana through this planning process," said Elizabeth "Boo" Thomas, president and CEO of the Center for Planning Excellence, which provides support to Louisiana Speaks. "Everyone involved, from the producers at LPB who helped frame the conversation to the citizens who expressed their views and the planners who helped craft the final vision, made Louisiana Speaks into the world-class plan it is today." 

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency's ESF #14 Long Term Planning Division has also made major contributions to Louisiana Speaks, including development of a dynamic and interactive web-based planning tool which is available online at www.louisianaspeaks-parishplans.org <http://www.louisianaspeaks-parishplans.org> . 

Planning for Louisiana Speaks is led by a team of top local and national professional which includes: Calthorpe Associates, FregoneseCalthorpe Associates, Urban Design Associates, Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company, ABMB Engineers, Inc., Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program, Brown+Danos Landdesign, Inc., Collective Strength, Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc., PolicyLink, Dr. Robert R. Twilley, and LSU Coastal Louisiana Ecosystem Assesment and Restoration (CLEAR). 

"Louisiana Speaks: Our Voice, Our Vision, Our Plan" is one of three nominees in the Service Program category. Click here for a full list of nominees. <http://suncoast.emmyonline.org/emmy/2007Nominations/nominations2007.aspx> 

The Suncoast Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences is a nonprofit Florida corporation dedicated to excellence in television. It offers annual Emmy Awards called The Suncoast Regional Emmy Awards to television markets in the entire State of Florida, Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles and New Orleans, Louisiana, Mobile, Alabama, Thomasville, Georgia and Puerto Rico. For more information, visit http://suncoast.emmyonline.org <http://suncoast.emmyonline.org> .

Louisiana Speaks is the long-term planning initiative of the Louisiana Recovery Authority that is supported with private funds provided by the LRA Support Foundation. For more information about Louisiana Speaks, visit www.louisianaspeaks.org <http://www.louisianaspeaks.org> .

The non-profit Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX), which was created to serve as a resource for South Louisiana residents, community organizations, developers and elected officials to provide information on best practices for planning and urban design, also provides support and management for the Louisiana Speaks initiative. For more information about Louisiana Speaks, visit www.planningexcellence.org <http://www.planningexcellence.org> .

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