The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has announced the nominations for the 2024 Emmy awards.

The documentary Ireland Made With Love, created for PBS by US based Symbio Studios has been nominated

Ireland Made with Love focuses on the skills of 13 Irish artisan craft and food makers

two of these are based in Sligo Namely

The Sligo Oyster Experience

and our very own Martina Hamilton

Ireland Made with Love shares the stories of artisan craft and food workers in a celebration of their importance to culture and how they preserve traditions within communities around the world. The hour-long documentary carries in-depth interviews with 13 such makers across Ireland, including Sligo Jewellery maker Martina Hamilton, alongside Aisling and Glen Hunter’s Oyster Experience and oyster farm in Sligo bay.

“Patrick Greene (Director and Executive Producer) and his team from Symbio Studios contacted us just over a year ago. They were making a documentary on Irish craft and food artisan makers and asked us would we like to be included” recalls Martina. “We were delighted to be asked and said yes on the spot. We learned later that Patrick and Symbio had just made a similar documentary focused on artisan makers in Italy which had just been nominated for a 2023 Emmy award. (Symbio subsequently won their category award). The Italy film was exquisite so you can imagine how delighted we were to be included. And now Patrick’s second film in the series, focused on Ireland has been nominated again.”

Ireland Made with Love was commissioned from Symbio Studios by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), the nationwide public broadcaster in the United States. At present Ireland Made with Love can only be viewed on PBS in the US but is soon due for global release. It has been seen by over a million people since its premiere.

“It’s a wonderful boost for the 13 craft and food makers across Ireland, who were included in the programme” says Martina. “Patrick and his studio are passionate about keeping traditional artisan craft alive through the quality of their work, spending a whole day filming our team creating a single jewellery piece of jewellery from start to finish. They were a joy to work with, you felt you were alongside them as a maker in your craft as they were working in theirs. And their attention to detail visually is quite simply stunning. You can just imagine how beautifully Sligo comes across, firstly out in Sligo bay with Aisling and Glen filming the oyster harvesting, then moving into Sligo town to cover us.”

 The “Made with Love” series is proving such a global success – a third programme was made earlier this year covering artisans in England – that curated tours from the US and other countries are now being created around the films.

“It’s such a wonderful thing to be part of; helping demonstrate to people around the world the depth and quality of food and craft making that we have here in Ireland, encouraging them to visit here, to experience our traditional craft making and our food. Of course the opportunity to encourage more visitors to Sligo is a particular thrill for all of us in the jewellery studio and I’m sure also for Aisling and Glen, who’ve been a joy to share this experience with”.

The winners will be announced on June 8th and the full list of category nominees is;

African Queens: Njinga, Netflix
Harlem Globetrotters Play It Forward, NBC
Ireland Made with Love, PBS
Leveling Lincoln, PBS
What Really Happened: America’s Wild, National Geographic

The team from Symbio at work in our jewellery studio for Ireland made with love

You can tell it was a very happy and rewarding day for everyone