Owensboro native Kelsey Starks was recently nominated for her first regional Emmy. Though she did not win the award, the process taught her numerous lessons for her next chapter professionally.
In 2023, Starks had the idea to spawn a special broadcast dedicated to the most exciting 2 minutes in sports, otherwise known as the Kentucky Derby. “Inside the Kentucky Derby” took viewers behind the scenes to the cultural phenomenon encompassing the state’s historic tradition, from the hats to the horses and everything in between.
Yet Starks said this was the first project she fully produced after being hired full-time at KET and leaving the world of television journalism behind.
“I said that I’d love to do something, and the fact that I’m working at a place now that would let me have an idea and take that creative liberty and run with it was just fantastic. It was my vision, and I got to create it and put it out there,” Starks said.
Stakrs said months were dedicated to research, prepping the team, and choosing the music and graphics for the screen. When they were cleared to film at Churchill Downs, she said, it was a phenomenal feeling to have the work pay off.
By the time the project finished, she said they learned not only for the 2024 broadcast but for any other project coming up.
“Anytime you get to have a vision and then see it in real life, that’s my favorite part of my job. This ended up being a footprint for the ‘Inside the Kentucky Derby’ show we did this year, and hopefully, we’ll be able to do more like this in the years to come,” Starks said.
When the Emmy nomination season came around, she said KET was proud to help her submit the 2023 show to the Ohio Valley Chapter Regional Emmys. Starks was nominated for the “Magazine Program” alongside fellow producers Christie Dutton and Chip Polston.
The ceremony, held last Saturday, saw a full table of the Starks and Kirkpatrick families.
“I’m just so blessed to have this team of supporters who have been there for me through thick and thin, and they have seen and heard everything in this crazy journalism career of mine, and to have them all there supporting me, as they have done this entire time was just phenomenal. So I may not have won the Emmy, but I definitely won the family lottery,” she said.
Though she didn’t win this year, she said as long as KET is willing to support her to submit again, she will continue to submit work she is proud of.
“I expect we’ll be able to produce a lot more things in the future that we’ll be sending for consideration,” she said. “Maybe we’ll win one of these days.”
