The Voters Choice awards exceeded my wildest expectations. Despite not being able to celebrate in -person, the WRAL team truly made this event just as special.
WRAL-TV Anchor & WRAL.com Voters Choice Awards Co-Host Mikaya Thurmond
WRAL Digital's Shelby Lloyd toasts the start of the livestream for the WRAL Voters' Choice Awards on Thursday, January 14, 2021.
The 6th Annual WRAL Voters Choice Awards announced the 2020 winners on Thursday, January 14, 2021. WRAL-TV Weekend Anchor/Reporter Mikaya Thurmond and WRAL-TV Meteorologist Kat Campbell co-hosted the event for the first time. The fun took place virtually due to pandemic safety concerns, but still gave nominees, winners and voters a chance to gather online to see Triangle businesses recognized and celebrated.
The winners were decided in a months-long process with the nomination period ending October 11, 2020, and the voting ending November 22, 2020, culminating with the announcement of the winners on Thursday, January 14, 2021.
Adapting For a Pandemic
Last year the event took place in the new Union Station in downtown Raleigh with lots of glitter and excitement. But COVID meant not being able to physically gather for the 6th annual VCAs.
While we were bummed that we couldn't continue to grow the in-person event this year, we knew it was more important than ever to showcase local businesses, said WRAL Digital Marketing Director Laura Worthington. It also allowed us to reach an audience beyond the finalists who attend the in-person event, which has just gotten bigger and bigger.
Nearly 600 people registered online for the virtual event which was available on WRAL.com, the WRAL news app and WRAL streaming channels.
My favorite part of the entire celebration was seeing posts from our winners and nominees who held watch parties across the Triangle, said Thurmond. So many winners posted the moment we announced their category, and I felt like I was right there celebrating with them. I look forward to next year in-person.
Besides going virtual, the WRAL VCAs included other new facets this year due to COVID. The team added new categories this year to reflect the pandemic, including Best Small Business and Best Takeout.
WRAL Voters' Choice Awards virtual event
Positive Additions
The 2021 ceremony also included a co-host. Thurmond has now hosted the VCAs for four years was joined this year for the first time by her friend and WRAL colleague, Kat Campbell.
Kat Campbell was a wonderful addition to the line-up, said Thurmond. Kat was a bright spot in the show.
Campbell said that hosting duties required a learning curve from her usual weathercasting.
We pre-recorded the show, and I was so excited to see Mikaya in person! said Campbell. Shes a good friend of mine and we havent seen each other much during the pandemic. I had never read from a teleprompter (I ad-lib weather) so I honed in that new skill while recording.
Pre-produced packages from news were also included in the livestream to add variety to the show.
Also new this year, we announced 3 of the winners in advance on the 9 a.m. news on FOX 50, said Worthington. That was really fun to see the live reaction, something we miss from the in-person event, but we also got learn more about the winners.
Putting Together a Virtual Program
Going virtual meant tackling every aspect of the VCAs in a new way.
Due to COVID safety protocols, the WRAL crew recorded the Voters' Choice Awards announcements in Studio A, while WRAL Digital's Laura Worthingon .sat in CBC's breakroom, Cafe 550, watching the production via in-house cable. She communicated with the director and producer via text to run the program.
When we have an in-person event, it's a whole different project with different variables, explained Worthington. We had to shift HighSchoolOT Honors very quickly from an in-person event to TV (FOX 50) and streaming last spring due to the pandemic, so we had some experience changing gears; however, VCAs are different than Honors in multiple ways. The biggest difference is that we have about 50 Honors award categories compared to over 100 in VCAs.
The team put together a program, which was pre-recorded, to release for the watch party on January 14.
With events of any kind, organizers often end up wearing multiple hats. I wrote the script and oversaw graphics, among a variety of other tasks. We were all wearing many hats. WRAL Digital Marketing & Promotions Specialist also played an important role overseeing promotions, helping ensure sponsorships were fulfilled with WRAL Digital Project Manager Jessica Collins. She also was in charge of communication with hundreds of finalists, and she even made special gifts for Mikaya and Kat's dogs.
The video from Studio A, along with graphics, then went to a partner for editing. The team then brought the finalized show back in-house for the livestream.
Worthington described the process, and the challenges, of recording:
Some of the new variables we experienced as we tried to execute the virtual event: contact tracing, additional safety measures, schedule changes, a slew of other major projects to juggle and holiday PTO (just to name a few). But we were in good hands with the director, WRAL-TV News Production Manager James Ford, and producer, WRAL-TV News Producer Kelly Riner. As we recorded in Studio A, I sat in Cafe 550 watching the production via in-house cable. I would text James and Kelly input. It was frustrating at times having to communicate that way, but we got it done. James had the foresight to book additional time in the studio for us in case of breaking news, and we ended up needing it.
As a special thank you, the WRAL Voters' Choice Awards crew had t-shirts
North America Stories
14/11/2026
Marcelo Dai's Live Session Captured with URSA Cine Immersive
Brie Clayton November 14, 2026
0 Comments
Artist takes viewers on an immersive journe...
14/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
14/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
14/11/2026
Newest Lenses, Horizon Anamorphic Seminar & Guided Lens Character Experience Highlight Creative Possibilities
At the 2026 Toru CAMERIMAGE Film Festival, ZEISS...
14/11/2026
Sonnet Announces Black Friday Sale on Select Products
Brie Clayton November 14, 2026
0 Comments
WHAT: Sonnet Technologies is having a sale on a select...
14/11/2026
Berklee Alumni Shine at the 2026 Latin Grammy Awards This year's winners included songwriters, engineers, and performers who contributed to acclaimed reco...
13/11/2026
The UIM E1 Series wraps its third season this week with the Bombay Sapphire E1 Miami GP, Nov. 11-14, on Biscayne Bay at the Miami Seaplane Base on Watson Island...
13/11/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
13/11/2026
Singer-songwriter Benson Boone will headline entertainment for the Discover NHL Winter Classic between the Utah Mammoth and Colorado Avalanche at Rice-Eccles St...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced the Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone, a 7th order ambisonic microphone array that captures spatial audio for immersive video prod...
13/11/2026
SMPTE has announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infrastructure and communications technology for the Solutions Hub at t...
13/11/2026
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced the theme and program focus for the 2027 HPA Tech Retreat, which takes place Feb. 14-18, 2027, in La ...
13/11/2026
Football Manager 27 Touch is available on Apple Arcade starting today. The game ...
13/11/2026
MotoGP has announced a two-year media rights agreement with ESPN covering the Un...
13/11/2026
Apple Sports, the free iPhone app, has added the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to its lineup of supported sports, in time for Saturday's UFC 334. The...
13/11/2026
The NBA and Fanatics Studios, the joint venture between Fanatics and entertainme...
13/11/2026
ESPN held its annual EDGE Innovation Conference last night and offered up an ove...
13/11/2026
Regional sports network gives Ithaca College, SUNY Cortland students a platform to thrive
One of the biggest games in Division III college football will be pla...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Blue Lucy, the workflow orchestration and integration platform for broadcasters, rights owners and localisation companies, today announced an integration with c...
13/11/2026
Krotos announces Black Friday offers on Studio Pro and Studio Max
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
First-year annual plans start at US$195.99...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
New 7th order ambisonic microphone with 108 MEMS...
13/11/2026
Meet the Berklee Student Setting Planetary Motion to Music With his compositional platform SoniKosmos, Javier Roqueni aims to make the universe the ultimate i...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Amagi, the media industry cloud company, today announced a partnership with Golden Times Media Technology (stock code 920021.BJ), a Beijing-based media and tech...
13/11/2026
CGI (TSX: GIB.A) (NYSE: GIB), one of the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world, together with its Malaysian partner, Cedar ...
13/11/2026
SMPTE, the home for media professionals, technologists and engineers, today announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infra...
13/11/2026
iWedia, a global leader in connected TV software solutions, will present its software-first approach to DRAM optimization at Android TV APAC Summit 2026 in Bang...
13/11/2026
From pediatric research to smart hospitals, AI is helping care teams spend less time on routine tasks and more time with patients.
Health systems and startups...
12/11/2026
Industry leaders examine how Dynamic Media Facility, Media eXchange Layer, and c...
12/11/2026
The junior Tar Heel is embracing the technical and creative challenges of live production while emerging as a leader and mentor in the control room...
12/11/2026
Gracenote, Nielsen's content intelligence business, has released its fifth a...
12/11/2026
RTL Deutschland will bring the NHL to free-to-air TV in Germany starting Nov. 30...
12/11/2026
Clear-Com supported On Air 2026, a 24-hour student-led broadcast connecting 45 u...
12/11/2026
uniqFEED has opened a Remote Operations Center (ROC) in Madrid, Spain. It is already operational, delivering virtual advertising for LaLiga matches. The ROC is ...
12/11/2026
Disney, ESPN and the NBA will present Dunk the Halls, the third real-time animated NBA game using Sony's Beyond Sports data visualization technology, on Chr...
12/11/2026
Van Wagner has launched Van Wagner RELAY, a digital platform for official athlet...
12/11/2026
Deal brings together two of the industry's most established graphics brands and significantly expands Vizrt's footprint in U.S. sports and regional broa...
The Voters Choice awards exceeded my wildest expectations. Despite not being able to celebrate in -person, the WRAL team truly made this event just as special. 
