AOP Digital Publishing Award nomination for PA's video team

PA’s video team has been shortlisted in the AOP Digital Publishing Awards 2021 in the category of best use of video, sponsored by Unruly. 

The nomination recognises the video team’s work for its international exclusive on the world’s first open water sanctuary created for beluga whales in captivity.

Video 2 – Belugas moved to Iceland sanctuary.mp4 from PA Media on Vimeo.

In a year dominated by pandemic-related news, PA’s video team documented the incredible and uplifting story of two beluga whales rehomed in an Icelandic Sea sanitary, amid a backdrop of travel restrictions, language barriers and schedule changes.

PA’s video team had been working on the story of whales Little Grey and Little White since 2018 when they flew out to capture them in their Shanghai aquarium.

The story culminated in their release in August 2020 when PA sent video journalist Phil Barnett to Iceland to capture the amazing moment the whales returned to sea.

The story gained world-wide coverage and received tens of millions of views across media outlets and had a huge viral impact. It was also picked up by animal conservation charities.

PA’s Head of Video, Joe Pickover, said: “I am delighted our fantastic video team has been recognised in this category for excellent exclusive coverage of the beluga story. The PA team works tirelessly in making dozens of important and engaging video stories available to press and media every day. The video department has worked particularly hard over the past year during extremely challenging circumstances, and they thoroughly deserve this recognition.”

The winners of this year’s AOP Digital Publishing Awards 2021 will be announced at a virtual ceremony on Thursday 16 September. See the full list of finalists here.