‘Flames Central’ earns school-record six awards at 65th Capital Emmy Awards
Lights, camera, action! Liberty’s studio show, “Flames Central ,” won big at the 65th Capital Emmy Awards this past June with a school record of six awards.
“Flames Central” showcases what Liberty is all about, providing in-depth coverage of Flames athletics, all while keeping the focus on Christ.
“We tell stories about our athletes, coaches, athletics, alumni and how their faith has impacted them and their lives,” Matt Warner, co-anchor and producer of “Flames Central,” said. “The biggest thing that we do is combine the sports and the faith aspect as well as highlight what Liberty is doing on the field and the success(es) that they’re having, but also the bigger purpose behind it all.”
The show and the Liberty Athletics creative team brought six Emmys back to the Mountain, ranging from awards in Audio and Graphic Arts categories to an overall award for the show.
“It all comes down to having talented people,” Warner said. “We won an Emmy Award for our audio guy, Alex Short, who’s brilliant and has won multiple Emmy Awards. Then there’s the guy that does all our graphic work, Austin Reddington. He’s (also) won multiple Emmys, and he won again. We’ve found people that are extremely talented and brought them on board with the mission of Liberty and the mission of our show.”
To produce this award-winning content, it takes a whole team of people to assemble the show each week. “Flames Central” relies on a group effort for things to come together and run smoothly.
“Our producers are constantly working … we’ll meet every week and go over what stories are important, most powerful and what we think our audience will enjoy. So, we’re setting the rundown, writing the script and then working with our team to edit highlights and to come up with sound manual, finding sound bites,” Warner said. “And just like a puzzle, you kind of lay out all the options we have for the week, and we fit it all together to make the most enjoyable show.”
While “Flames Central” is no stranger to the Emmy Awards, this year they came out on top and received recognition like they never have before, with 13 different Emmy nominations.
“Every year we submit what we feel like is our best work,” Warner said. “We’ve been successful, but never as successful as this year with six (awards), and one overall for the show. We’re beating NFL and NBA teams that have weekly shows. We’re beating a lot of people that have a lot of resources and a lot of talent, so that just speaks to what we have here (at Liberty).”
For Warner, who has been with “Flames Central” since the beginning, there is a sense of gratification when it comes to seeing the impact the show has on the community.
“The Emmy Awards are awesome, but what I enjoy even more though, is when you run into somebody who’s like, ‘Oh, hey, I watched the show every Sunday’ or a student who is like, ‘Oh, that’s your show? I saw that piece that you guys did on this athlete,’” Warner said. “I think it’s more gratifying when you hear people talk about how it’s impacted them in some way; that’s even better than the Emmy Awards. But the Emmys are nice and shiny — and people like looking at those, so we’re not going to turn them down.”
Along with “Flames Central,” the Liberty Athletics creative team works hand-in-hand in shooting and producing sports content for “Flames Nation.”
Though Flames Central has been running for nearly 10 years, it has gone through several changes. It began as a daily show titled “Game On,” but over the last few years was redeveloped into “Flames Central.”
“We are continuing to hone our craft and get better at what we do, but we make sure we’re not changing the mission of what we do and that we are still focusing on those stories of faith,” Warner said. “I feel like the more that Liberty athletics advances and the higher that they move up, the more that we have an opportunity to reach a wider audience.”
The show can be accessed here
White is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion. Follow her on X