FEATURED: Christmas 2025 memories came flashing back in late May 2026 when South Texans learned that the Edinburg Cable Network was named a 2026 Silver Telly Winner by the Telly Awards, a premier international awards programs that honors excellence in video and television across all screens, reports Mayor Omar Ochoa.
Graphics Courtesy EDINBURG CABLE NETWORK
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Edinburg Cable Network earns 2026 Silver Telly Award for holiday video “The City of Edinburg Catches the Grinch,” reports Mayor Omar Ochoa
By DAVID A. DÍAZ
[email protected]
Christmas 2025 memories came flashing back in May 2026 when South Texans learned that the Edinburg Cable Network was named a 2026 Silver Telly Winner by the Telly Awards, a premier international awards programs that honors excellence in video and television across all screens, reports Mayor Omar Ochoa.
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=who+are+the+telly+awards&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
On Tuesday, May 26, 2026, the Edinburg Cable Network – also known as the City of Edinburg Communications & Media Department – won the award in the General-Holiday & Seasonal category for their creative video, titled “The City of Edinburg Catches the Grinch,” produced in partnership with the Edinburg Police Department.
“The Edinburg Cable Network once again brought great honor upon themselves and our community with this prestigious award, which recognizes the best work created within television and across video,” Ochoa said. “They created a fantastic production, ‘The City of Edinburg Catches the Grinch’, which was a masterful combination of compelling storytelling and dynamic visual elements, which are the hallmarks of the best video productions in the world.”
The Edinburg Cable Network competed against 13,000 (thirteen thousand) entries globally from six continents and all 50 U.S. states involving dozens of categories.
“The City of Edinburg Catches the Grinch” is a three-minute+ video about the famous Dr. Seuss character, a furry, pot-bellied, pear-shaped, snub-nosed humanoid creature with a cat-like face and a cynical personality, featured up to no-good in the Four-Time All America City.
The Grinch especially hates the Christmas season, making particular note of how disturbing the various elements of Christmas time are to him, including the earsplitting noises of strangely-designed musical instruments, eating Christmas dinner, and singing Christmas carols.
Unable to stand the holiday any longer, he enacts a dastardly plan to stop it from happening.
“They brought the story of the Grinch to our hometown, using broadcast-caliber video that also showcased some of the many landmarks in our community, while delivering very positive images of our police officers,” the mayor said.
Broadcast-caliber video refers to professional-grade footage that meets the strict technical specifications, reliability standards, and signal quality required by television networks and major streaming platforms for official broadcast or distribution. It implies pristine resolution, accurate color representation, broadcast-legal audio, and stability, ensuring a flawless viewing experience.
The Edinburg Cable Network was originally created in the mid-1990s by former Mayor Joe Ochoa, who is the father of Mayor Omar Ochoa.
The Edinburg Cable Network, which is part of the city government and is headquartered at Edinburg City Hall, specializes in delivering essential residential and business connectivity solutions, primarily focusing on cable television locally and is available worldwide on the Internet.
Credits for the video include photojournalists Juan Anzaldúa and Ronaldo González, Director of Communications Roxanne Lerma, Reporter Sandra García, and Communications Specialist Cameron Alston.
“A special thank you to our police department for helping arrest the Grinch, saving Christmas, and assisting with the shoot to help bring this fun and creative project to life,” Lerma said. “The video also featured cameos from some familiar local news media personalities, and we’re grateful for their participation and support throughout the project.”
Lerma served as video producer, who is the lead project manager and creative director for video projects. They oversee a video’s entire lifecycle from the initial concept and budgeting to final editing, ensuring the finished product aligns with client goals and expectations.
García served as video director, who is the creative leader responsible for translating a script or concept int a visual production. They act as the “caption of the ship,” overseeing the artistic and technical choices across all phases of production – forming the initial storyboard to the final edit.
Anzaldúa and González served as photojournalists, who capture footage for a videos. They are responsible for both shooting high-quality footage and conducting interviews on the scene.
Anzaldúa served as video editor, who is the post-production professional responsible for assembling raw vide into a cohesive, polished final product. They collaborate with directors or creators to shape the story, cut and arrange clips, add sound effects, and apply visual efforts or color grading.
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=who+is+the+editor+of+a+video?&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Other talent who were seen on the video included the following South Texas journalists and Edinburg law enforcement officers:
- Daisy Martínez, Rudy Mireles, Alejandra Yañez, and Frank McCaffrey of KVEO 23/CBS 4;
- Robin Gwenn, Victoria Cantú, Luis Mármol, and Tonny Mármol from Fox/Univision/Entravision; and
- Edinburg police officers Felicia Barragán, Officer Rolando Anaya, and Officer José Lara.
Founded in 1979 to honor local, regional and cable television commercials, with non-broadcast video and television programming added soon after, the award has evolved with the rise of digital video to include branded content, documentary, social media, immersive and more.
Telly Award winners represent work from some of the most respected advertising agencies, television stations, production companies and publishers from around the world. The Telly Awards recognizes work that has been created on behalf of a client, for a specific brand and/or company or self-directed as a creative endeavor.
All work entered in The Telly Awards is reviewed by the Telly Awards Judging Council, its diverse judging body of over 250 executives from television networks, production companies, global agencies, immersive content studios, and streaming platforms around the world.
As an entrant, the contestants' work will be reviewed by industry leaders from companies like Shutterstock, Marvel, BBC, Netflix and more.
This year, the new members welcomed to the jury include those working at the forefront of the creator economy, emerging technology, and social impact at Roku Brand Studio, MediaPro, PlutoTV, Open Television, Gymnasium, Patreon and Pickleball TV.
You can learn more about the Telly Awards Judging Council here.
On Thursday, June 4, 2026, “The City of Edinburg Catches the Grinch” also landed statewide praise from the Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers (TMIO).
The video was selected under the Special or One-Time Program category by TMIO, competing alongside communications teams across the state.
TMIO s is a professional organization dedicated to advancing municipal communications and public relations across Texas. It functions at an official affiliate of the Texas Municipal League (TML).
TMIO hosts the annual “TAMI Awards” competition, which recognizes outstanding achievements by Texas cities, towns and villages in areas like video productions, digital media, and citizen engagement.
To view the video of “The City of Edinburg Catches the Grinch,” log on to:
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For more on this and other Texas legislative news stories that affect the Rio Grande Valley metropolitan region, please log on to Titans of the Texas Legislature (TitansoftheTexasLegislature.com).
