Clemson’s ‘Making It Grow’ gardening show wins three Tellys

SUMTER — The Emmy Award-winning Making It Grow gardening show has three more Telly Awards to add to its accolades.

Making It Grow is South Carolina ETV’s (SCETV) weekly, live-interactive television program about gardening featuring host Amanda McNulty, fellow Clemson Cooperative Extension associate Terasa Lott, as well as guests including Extension agents and horticulturists who provide researched-based information on sustainable landscaping practices in an informal and engaging fashion. Sean Flynn has been the show’s producer since 1999.

“Our most important mission is to help people use environmentally sustainable methods and still be successful in growing plants,” McNulty said. “By encouraging our viewers to make careful choices in selecting plants, in placing them properly in their landscape or garden and using thoughtful cultural practices, we help them reduce plant stress, which results in healthier plants more resistant to pests. We are honored and excited our team was chosen by peers in the industry to receive these awards.”

Making it Grow received three awards for three different segments – the most for any SCETV program – this year. Awards were given for:

• The Botanizing a Seep segment in the Television General-Nature/Wildlife category. In this segment, McNulty and John Nelson of the University of South Carolina Herbarium take a field trip to Clarendon County near Pinewood to explore a Seep. This formally wooded area has a constant presence of water, which affects new plant material growing there. McNulty and Nelson tour the area and highlight several plants they find.
• The Farm at Briggs Elementary segment in the Television General-Educational Institution category. In this segment, the Making It Grow crew visit Briggs Elementary School in Florence to learn more about the farm at the school. McNulty and teacher Jeff Murrie talk about the garden and its purpose. McNulty also talks with students about what they have learned and what they have enjoyed about working in the garden. Murrie is a graduate of the School Gardening for South Carolina Educators, a horticulture-based Clemson Extension program designed to help the state’s educators grow successful school gardens to address childhood obesity and improve academic outcomes.
• The Victorian Christmas at Historic Columbia segment in the Television General-Cultural category. In this segment, McNulty joins Fielding Freed of Historic Columbia to tour the Robert Mills House and the Hampton-Preston Mansion. The show features a variety of holiday decorations and helps viewers experience past traditions at these historic homes.

In addition to these awards, the SCETV network also won nine other Telly awards.

Making It Grow airs at 7 p.m. Tuesdays on ETV and at 8 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Saturdays on the SC Channel.

Now in its 41st year, the Telly Awards annually showcase the best work in television and video. Selected from more than 12,000 entries from all 50 states and five continents, Telly Award winners represent work from some of the most respected advertising agencies, television stations, as well as production companies and publishers around the world.

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