A video series produced for the Black Males in Engineering (BME) project, led by UW–Madison School of Education faculty member Brian Burt, has earned a prestigious Telly Award. The BME video series received a Silver Award in the Campaign – Education & Training category, which honors non-broadcast video campaigns created for general educational purposes.
The BME project offers a robust online resource featuring research-backed methods to support Black boys and men in STEM — from primary school through doctoral studies. Its offerings include a video series and a set of interactive handouts with guided questions for key audiences, including parents, K–12 teachers, and college advisors.
“The BME video series is an example of dreaming big, to convert complex research ideas into accessible videos, interactive handouts, and a user-friendly website,” said Burt, a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis and the director of Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB) in the Wisconsin Center for Education Research. “I’m glad that the BME initiative has been recognized for its global reach and lasting impact on Black boys and men in STEM.”
The videos were produced by Source TEN, a Milwaukee-based video production company that submitted the series for award consideration.
“Winning a Telly Award is a meaningful honor for us at Source TEN. It’s a recognition of the creativity, craft, and care we pour into every story we tell,” said Sandra Dempsey, Source Ten’s executive producer and CEO.
Dempsey added: “The Black Males in Engineering project was a truly special collaboration … What made this series so unique was its foundation — the largest collection of qualitative data and research on Black males in engineering graduate programs — paired with deeply personal narratives that shed light on how engineering identities are shaped. It wasn’t just about representation; it was about reflection, resilience, and redefining what it means to belong in STEM spaces. We were honored to creatively develop and produce these stories to be brought to the screen, contributing a broader conversation around equity, identity and inclusion in engineering education and beyond.”
The Telly Awards honor excellence in video and television across all screens. Founded in 1979 to honor local, regional and cable television commercials, with non-broadcast video and television programming added soon after, the award has evolved with the rise of digital video to include branded content, documentary, social media, immersive and more. The Telly Awards today celebrates the best work in the video medium in an exciting new era of the moving image on and offline.