Acknowledging the nonprofit media organization’s growing impact in promoting curiosity-driven conversations and civil debate of consequential issues across the globe, Open to Debate has won the Gold trophy in the Online-General-Thought Leadership category from the Telly Awards, which honor excellence in video and television across all screens and are judged by leaders from video platforms, television, streaming networks, and production companies. The “Thought Leadership” category honors an “online show or segment featuring innovative and influential thinking.” Open to Debate shares the honor with Reuters Plus.

Open to Debate also won Bronze trophies for debates “Should America End Birthright Citizenship?” and “Unresolved: The Future of the Supreme Court,” produced as inaugural partnership debates with the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University and Arizona State University’s Institute of Politics, in the General-Policy & Commentary and General-Policy & Legislation categories, respectively.

The honors come during the organization’s “re-founding” 20th anniversary year, as new CEO Lia Matthow deepens partnerships with academic, philanthropic, and other esteemed institutional partners while continuing to elevate informed public discourse. Their programs expose viewers to viewpoints outside their information silos; in surveys of live attendees across their “Hopkins Forum” debate series at Johns Hopkins University, 79.2% of respondents answered “yes” to having learned something at the debates that changed their minds or challenged their thinking. "Seeing people on different sides have a competent discussion was delightful and refreshing,” wrote one respondent. Another wrote, “The conversation was insightful and brought perspectives to several issues that I hadn’t considered.”

“In a moment of organizational reimagining, we are taking on the most challenging ideas of our time, expanding content and distribution and taking vital conversations to campuses, to live events around the country, and to the global square with recent partnerships such as our program at the Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway,” Matthow said. “We will also be reconvening a New York audience at a regular cadence at Canyon, a new 40,000-square-foot cultural venue in New York City. All the initiatives will build on a year that saw the organization host more live programs than at any other point in its two-decade history.”

ABOUT OPEN TO DEBATE
Open to Debate addresses a fundamental problem in America: the extreme polarization of our nation and our politics. We are the nation's only nonpartisan, debate-driven media organization dedicated to bringing multiple viewpoints together for a constructive, balanced, respectful exchange of ideas. Open to Debate is a platform for intellectually curious and open-minded people to engage with others holding opposing views on complex issues. We know debate works to find common ground: On average, 32% of the Open to Debate audience changes their mind on contentious topics after hearing a debate. That’s the power of debate done right, and at scale, it can change the direction we’re headed in America. Open to Debate is broadcast as a weekly public radio program, carried on NPR stations including WNYC (#1 in the nation). Open to Debate is made available as a podcast, video series, and digital platform, and records episodes with live audiences nationwide. Learn more at opentodebate.org, and subscribe to Open to Debate’s Substack to access more than 350 debate archives, explore exclusive content, and engage with our community.

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For more information on Open to Debate, please contact Ray Padgett (raypadgett@shorefire.com) at Shore Fire Media.