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The regional news website Greater Long Island has been nominated for a prestigious New York Emmy Award.
This recognition comes as a result of GLI’s mini-documentary called Survivor: The definitive story of Dunia Sibomana that the independent news organization produced.
The 6-minute, 20-second story traces Dunia Sibomana’s journey from Africa to the U.S. after he narrowly survived a chimpanzee attack that claimed the lives of two other children. Settling in Long Beach as a child, he underwent multiple surgeries and was later adopted before becoming a New York phenom in wrestling.
The Greater Long Island team learned of the nomination on Friday when the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, New York chapter announced the 66th Annual New York Awards nominations.
Greater LI was nominated in the “Sports Story – Short Form Content” category. Fellow nominees include the New York Yankees, New York Mets, New York Football Giants and YES Network.
The winners will be announced during an awards ceremony that will take place this fall.
“When you look at the list of nominees, you see the NY Giants, the NY Yankees, the NY Mets, and Greater Long Island,” said Jamie Stuart, a GLI sports contributor who co-reported and narrated the video. “What a wonderful accomplishment to be nominated alongside these sports giants.”
The team also included co-reporter and producer Nicholas Esposito, videographer and editor Andrew Theodorakis (who first learned of Dunia’s story) and executive producer Michael White.
“I’m still pinching myself over this,” said White, who is also greaterlongisland.com‘s publisher. “We’re just a small shop, but this nomination shows great storytelling and initiative gets recognized, even if you don’t have a huge budget.”
Theodorakis added, “We are the underdogs, similar to Dunia himself. There were a lot of obstacles to get here, and now we are competing with the top.”
This isn’t the first honor the Greater Long Island team has earned from covering’s Dunia incredible story. GLI earned a first place finish at the 2023 Press Club of Long Island Media Awards in the “Sports Feature: Video” category. The video also won a Silver Telly.
“Dunia not only has an incredible story, he’s an even better person,” Esposito said. “Through all the shares and comments, it was obvious he has inspired so many. He’s also been an inspiration to us.”
About Greater LI
Greater Long Island, formed in 2015 as GreaterPatchogue.com, has been serving the Long Island community with comprehensive coverage of local events and happenings ever since. The newsroom, made up of dedicated Long Islanders with extensive backgrounds in journalism, has been a significant contributor to keeping the community informed and engaged. Read more here.
Top: NY Emmy trophies lined up for the 60th anniversary show. (Credit: New York Emmy Awards/ Instagram)
