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
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
20/08/2026
Multiview available via SaaS for streaming platforms and operators through broadpeak.io, with live demonstrations at IBC2026
Broadpeak , a leader in streaming ...
20/08/2026
Techex, a leading provider of live broadcast infrastructure solutions, has appointed Stuart Almond as Chief Revenue Officer, further strengthening its executive...
20/08/2026
Avid today announced that MediaCity Studios has upgraded its production infrastructure with an enhanced end-to-end Avid production ecosystem, including the dep...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
IPC Expands Brazilian Presence with New Channel Partner CCATech
Industry veterans Carlos Abrah o and Bruno Lopes strengthen local support and expand IPCs prese...
20/08/2026
Zixi Enters Mauritius Market Through Strategic Deployment with MTC Jockey Club
Worlds Oldest Horse Racing Club in the Southern Hemisphere Selects Zixis Softwar...
20/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Scripps Research assistant professor Tiantian Liu has received a five-year NIAID DP2 award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Di...
20/08/2026
Audiences reveal appetite for multicultural Australia on-screen 20 August 2026
Dr Georgie McClean, Dr Rebecca Huntley (L-R)
By Dr Georgie McClean and Dr Rebec...
20/08/2026
How Mavis Studio Is Expanding Live Production Teaching at Sussex
Brie Clayton August 19, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image displays a student about to mix be...
20/08/2026
Vertical Unscripted Series Legal Queens Captured with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton August 19, 2026
0 Comments
Reality TV veteran Eric Gardner create...
20/08/2026
It's a new way into the cloud.
GeForce NOW welcomes Firefox support to the cloud, opening up another way to jump into high-performance PC gaming straight ...
19/08/2026
As the cost of IP nears price parity with traditional SDI, Reynolds argues that ...
19/08/2026
A private 5G bubble was chosen instead of traditional broadcast RF for the race ...
19/08/2026
(L-R) Rafael Manuel and Isabel Sicat attend the Filipi ana premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 23, 2026, in Park Cit...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
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. 
