Page 14 - MidWeek - June 29, 2022

14 MIDWEEK JUNE 29, 2022
From the comfort of their home offices, Yunji de Nies and Ryan Kalei Tsuji broad- cast Spotlight Hawai‘i, a live, digi- tal news program that airs at 10:30 a.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on Honolulu Star-Adver- tiser’s Facebook page.
and Tsuji, they serve as the booking agent, hair and makeup artist, IT de- partment, sound engineer, research- er and more. Not to mention, they’re the hosts of the show, too.
their graphics than who’s on our whole team,” says de Nies with a laugh.
we won the year before and we were even more surprised that we won twice this year,” says de Nies, smiling. “You kind of just submit it and then forget about it because it seems like such a long shot, es- pecially this particular award be- cause we’ re competing with such high-level programs.”
to be mentioned in the same breath as those wonderful news maga- zines and programs, and to be able to bring that home to Hawai‘i is always such a blessing and honor.”
There are no studio lights or high- tech cameras. There’s no producer, director or teleprompter operator, either. It’s just de Nies and Tsuji de- livering quality local news content, from their homes to yours.
What’s perhaps even more im- pressive, Spotlight Hawai‘i recently won two Telly Awards, an interna- tional recognition that honors video and television across all screens.
In fact, the show — which is widely applauded for its ability to ask guests questions from viewers right then and there — won a Tel- ly two years in a row (in 2021, it received an award for an episode featuring then-mayoral candidates Rick Blangiardi and Keith Amemi- ya), which serves as a testament to de Nies and Tsuji’s drive, hard work and inherent talent, especially considering that the show was only established a little more than two years ago.
Tsuji adds, “It’s always just mind-blowing to me because the Tellys are a very respected award on an international stage. It’s hard to believe that we’re filming this from our homes and that we’ re compet- ing with some of the big names on the big networks, so it’s extremely humbling, flattering and honoring
One of the award-winning epi- sodes featured Lt. Gov. Josh Green (it premiered Aug. 20), who ex- pounded on the delta surge, which was, at the time, sweeping the na- tion. Also earning a nod was a Dec. 10 show, during which Board of Water Supply’s chief engineer, Er- nest “Ernie” Lau, offered informa- tion about the Red Hill water crisis.
One can imagine how incredible the feat is, then, to operate a state- wide streaming news service as a two-person crew. Between de Nies
A “low production, high informa- tion” program, as de Nies describes it, Spotlight Hawai‘i was in the company of colossal networks like CBS, which won for 60 Minutes, and MSNBC (Afghanistan: The War at Home) this year.
Both episodes, like everything that de Nies and Tsuji touch, con-
“They have more people making
“We were really surprised that
SEE PAGE 15
Why are Ryan Kalei Tsuji and Yunji de Nies smiling so much these days? Probably because their triweekly streaming show ‘Spotlight Hawai‘i’ just earned them two Telly Awards.