AUTOLINE DETROIT EARNS 2004 INTERNATIONAL WHEEL AWARD

LIVONIA, MI -- Autoline Detroit, produced by Blue Sky Productions, has earned first-place honors in the Detroit Press Club Foundation’s 2004 International Wheel Awards competition for its television documentary “The Annual Woodward Dream Cruise.”

The Blue Sky crew of John McElroy, Dan Dancer, Peter Hickman, Carmen Erickson and Michael Purcell earned first place in the Television-New Program/ Documentary category for the program, which appeared last fall on Autoline Detroit, North America’s only weekly automotive television-news program.

The International Wheel award was established by the 40-year-old press club foundation as an extension of its charter to promote excellence in journalism, and in recognition of Detroit’s and Michigan’s global significance in the automotive industry. The awards were presented during recent ceremonies at the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, Mich.

"We are extremely proud of this recognition by our peers,” said McElroy, editorial director of Blue Sky Productions, which produces Autoline Detroit. “It’s especially gratifying because our entire crew worked under some pretty extreme hardships to shoot and edit the program during the big Midwest power blackout last August.”

The award-winning program took a thoughtful look at the annual Woodward Dream Cruise, which draws hundreds of thousands of classic car buffs for a nostalgic cruise down the Detroit area’s famed Woodward Avenue for one summer weekend.

“Scrambling to find back-up generators to recharge camera batteries and to power monitors and editing equipment back at the studios, the crew endured,” added Dan Dancer, Blue Sky producer/director. “Despite the handicaps, we produced great content and met a very tight deadline.”

The awards ceremony was hosted by the Individual Communicators Network in cooperation with The Automotive Hall of Fame. Awards were presented in 11 separate categories for newspaper, magazine, radio and television reporting.

Judging for the Wheel Awards was conducted in February by faculty members of the University of Nebraska School of Journalism and Mass Communications under the direction of Dean Will Norton.

Blue Sky Productions has produced an award-winning array of television programming, including Autoline Detroit, which appears weekly on Speed Channel and Detroit public television. Its portfolio includes more than 600 hours of original broadcast TV content. In addition, its team of broadcast professionals provides companies and agencies with full production services and facilities for corporate and training videos, commercials and multimedia technology. Editing, animation and international location shooting complete Blue Sky’s portfolio of video and television production services.

Blue Sky maintains an interactive web site at www.blueskyproductions.tv.