Buffalo natives Jillian Hanesworth and Augustus Clarke win Sports Emmy Award

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) – It was a big night for two Buffalo natives at the 2024 Sports Emmy Awards in New York on Tuesday.

Spoken word artist, activist and former Buffalo Poet Laureate Jillian Hanesworth and director Augustus Clarke won the Dick Schaap Outstanding Writing Award for their work on the NFL 360 short film “Still Here.”

“I’m still trying to figure this out,” Hanesworth told 7 News anchor Jeff Russo. “Experiencing this moment is truly surreal.”

“It’s incredible, incredible,” said Clarke, who also co-produced “Still Here” with Trent Cooper.

NATAS – Marc Bryan-Brown Photography

Clarke joined Hanesworth on stage to accept the Sports Emmy at Frederick P. Rose Hall at Lincoln Center in New York on Tuesday evening.

The award was one of six Sports Emmy Awards won Tuesday by the National Football League.

The NFL describes “Still Here” as “an impassioned statement about a heartbroken community leaning on its beloved football team to help it recover from a year of off-the-field tragedies.”

“Being able to highlight the people in our community and being able to show our strength and our ability to come together, that was the ultimate goal,” Hanesworth said.

“Still Here” highlights Buffalo’s grief and resilience through the racist mass shooting of May 14, 2022, the deadly Christmas blizzard that claimed the lives of 47 people, and the line-of-duty death of the Buffalo firefighter Jason Arno.

“It’s something I’ve wanted to do for the city for a long time,” Clarke said. “People are grieving and we knew we had to highlight it and take it to a national level.”

“Still Here” uses the Buffalo Bills as a common thread that unites our entire region.

“Our football team, the Buffalo Bills, brings together all walks of life, no matter the color of your skin. You can be a blue alien. When it’s game time, it’s love, nothing but love ” Clarke said.

“I think it really shows people that even though we think we have a lot of things that can divide us as people, we also have something that can and does unite us,” Hanesworth added.