A documentary about Austin and grassroots efforts to empower the West Side neighborhood took home a win at the 68th annual Chicago/Midwest Emmy Awards.
The annual awards ceremony, a local chapter of the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, took place last weekend at Swissôtel Chicago, 323 E. Wacker Drive.
The 2025 film “highlights the work of Chicago’s strongest community leaders who are helping redefine Austin,” according to local nonprofit Austin Coming Together, which co-produced “The Good News” with Chicago production company PRIME 312.
Featuring local organizers, residents and business owners, the documentary also highlights the nonprofit’s initiative known as “Austin Forward. Together.” The comprehensive quality-of-life plan seeks to address seven core issues in the community, including education, housing, youth empowerment, economic development, public safety and public narrative.
“The Good News” took home the win for “Outstanding Achievement for Branded Content — Long Form Content,” recognizing producers Christopher Hoerdemann and Norma Hoerdemann, and associate producers La’Shawna Bundy, Grace Cooper, Arewa Najm Ekua, Nyla Larry and Ethan Ramsay.
It’s “a tribute to the work that’s happening here,” said Darnell Shields, Austin Coming Together’s executive director.
“When we started organizing around Austin for the quality-of-life plan in 2018, residents made it pretty clear that [changing] the narrative about Austin was a priority,” Shields said. “For far too long, our neighborhood has been defined by disinvestment and headlines that focus on these challenges. But for those of us who call Austin home, we know a different story. It’s one of community, power, strength and resilience. So that’s the story the film tells.”
When Austin Coming Together set out to make this film, they weren’t aiming for an Emmy, Shields said.
Each year, Austin Coming Together hosts a community summit. But while preparing for the Aspire Center’s grand opening in June 2025, the nonprofit decided hosting a summer summit might be difficult. They saw film as another way to honor Austin and the organization’s work.
Being able to attend the awards ceremony and take home a trophy was “surreal,” Shields said. Back in 2018, Shields said he never thought something like this was possible. But now he feels “proud and privileged” to have attended the awards ceremony.
“If you spend any time in Austin, you know that the people and their stories have always been worthy,” Shields said. “It was kind of surreal because I’m like, wow, this is not something you get to do everyday, especially in this particular sector that we work in of community development and organizing and things like that. … So I was very much humbled by the opportunity to be there and [represent] my community for that really prestigious moment.”
It took nearly a year to complete the 36-minute documentary, but the stories in it have been underway for decades, Shields said.
“This Emmy belongs to the community of Austin, my lifelong home,” Shields said. “The stars of this documentary are the residents and the community leaders who spent years working together to transform our community and to put things in place that really would help us move towards thriving.
“We’ve been paving this path for some time, and so I’m just so proud,” he said. “I’m loving the fact that you know Austin’s getting the recognition that it deserves now. I hope to see many more people come visit the Austin that we know and love and not just be subject to the sometimes negative narratives that’s painted about us.”
While “The Good News” isn’t available to watch online, people can join the Austin Coming Together mailing list to find out about private screenings. Anyone interested in bringing the film to their community or hosting a screening can also reach out to associate producer Ethan Ramsey at eramsay@austincomingtogether.org.
In order to get people to not only watch the film but engage with it, filmmakers will provide a screening toolkit and even come to a showing.
“We think it’s important to keep talking about the things that our community has had to contend with, and the way in which our leaders have worked together to address them and try to bring about solutions,” Shields said.