Longtime KTLA reporter Gayle Anderson had a very special night on Saturday.
She was awarded the 74th Los Angeles Area Emmys Governors Award by the Television Academy and Los Angeles Area Governors Award committee.
“I just want to take it all in for a minute, OK?” Gayle whispered as she received the honor. “Thank you.”
The award is presented once a year to an “individual, company or organization that has made a substantial contribution to television broadcasting in the greater Los Angeles area,” according to the Television Academy.
“It’s not work to me,” she explained to KTLA after her acceptance speech. “It’s just, I’m going to school every day and I’m learning something new every day. I love working stories I know nothing about and I learn.
“I’ve got some new stuff I’m going to learn next week in fact,” she revealed. “So it’s kind of exciting and I don’t know why it’s drawn this kind of attention, but yikes!”
“There is no one like Gayle Anderson and we all know it at KTLA,” said Assistant News Director Kerry Brace. “She is so important to us. She’s a huge member of our family and she’s so important to the community. She really tells the stories that capture people’s hearts and she gives people the information that they need. So, we love you Gayle.”
Gayle wasn’t the only winner of the night.
KTLA’s series “Breaking Bias: Race in America” won in the crime/social issues category, which awarded our Frank Buckley, Cher Calvin, Kimberly Cheng, Gene Kang, Elyse Madison, Chris Pace and Summer Yu with a statue for the evening.
The series “California Leavin’” won for business/consumer new story, which awarded gold to Pablo Chacon, Brian Choo, Jessica Holmes, Adrian Huerta and Leila Shalhoub.
The KTLA 5 News at 11 was awarded Best Evening Newscast.
Best Public Service Announcement was awarded to KTLA’s Garry Ashton, Matt Mary, Robert Matthews and Estella Medina for the You Were Born to Shine Campaign.