The School Bus Safety Company won three Telly Awards for the best in film and video productions.
The Telly Awards, founded in 1978, honor excellence in local, regional and cable TV commercials. Since then, non-broadcast videos, including the online variety, were added to the awards list. Last year, the 33rd Annual Telly Awards received more than 12,000 entries from all 50 states, as well as five continents.
Jeff Cassell, the company’s president, said the Silver Tel Council recognized SBSC with a Silver Award in the safety category for its student program “The Magic Tent” for children in grades three through five and a Bronze Award for safety and children’s audience for “Preventing Bullying,” a training program for students in grades three through 12.
“We’re delighted for this recognition,” Cassell added. “These awards provide credibility to our mission of making kids safer. And, getting three awards for a single series was more than we expected.”
Mark Gardner, executive producer of SBSC’s videos, noted that the company goes to great lengths to ensure its instructional designs are built on accurate, actionable content. “But, we also want to deliver the material in a way that achieves meaningful learning outcomes. It has to be interesting, or the students won’t pay attention,” he said. “These awards confirm that the experts agree we have met our dual goals.”
SBSC also provides training videos for school bus drivers as the company targets a reduction in student deaths on and around the school bus from an average of 12 fatalities per year to zero. Cassell said that safety training for students who ride the bus is also necessary to achieve this goal.
“Teaching the students is vital,” Cassell added. “We launched these courses in January, and we’re pleased to report that more than 200 copies are already in use. Everyone agrees: working together, we can make the kids safer.”
