Erin's House & PUNCH Films Awarded Gold Telly for Identity Video

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — September 18, 2026 — Erin’s House for Grieving Children and local production company PUNCH Films are celebrating a Gold Telly Award for their promotional video highlighting Erin’s House’s Identity Outreach Program.

Watch the award-winning Identity video: Watch “Erin’s House Identity” on YouTube

View the 2026 Gold Telly Award: View Erin’s House’s Gold Telly Award

The video, titled “Erin’s House Identity,” received a 2026 Gold Telly Award in the Non-Broadcast: General-Not-for-profit category. PUNCH Films submitted the video for consideration after producing it for Erin’s House in 2025. The award recognizes excellence in video created for nonprofit organizations.

The Telly Awards are one of the leading honors for excellence in video and television across all screens. Established in 1979, the Telly Awards now receive more than 13,000 entries from around the world each year. Entries are evaluated by the Telly Awards Judging Council, an industry body of more than 250 professionals from advertising agencies, production companies, television networks, streaming platforms and other areas of the media industry.

Rather than having entries compete directly against one another, Telly judges evaluate each submission against a high standard of excellence. Winners are awarded Gold, Silver or Bronze based on the combined scores of the judges. A Gold designation represents the highest level of recognition awarded through the Telly judging process.

For Erin’s House and PUNCH Films, the recognition highlights both the quality of the video and the importance of bringing greater awareness to grief support services available to young people throughout the Fort Wayne community.

The video features Erin’s House Director of Community Outreach, Erick T. Baker, who leads the Identity Outreach Program and shares the importance of bringing grief support directly into communities where young people may not otherwise have access to Erin’s House grief support services.

The Identity Outreach Program provides grief support to children and teens through local youth centers in central-city zip codes and underserved areas of Fort Wayne. Each week, trained Erin’s House volunteers facilitate age-appropriate activities and conversations that give young people a safe and accepting environment to explore their grief, share their experiences and connect with others who have experienced a death. The program is provided at no cost to participants.

“The Identity Program is about meeting young people where they are and making sure grief support is available in the places they already know and feel comfortable,” said Erick T. Baker, Director of Community Outreach at Erin’s House. “This video gives us an opportunity to show our community what Identity looks like in action and, more importantly, why programs like this matter. We are grateful to PUNCH Films for helping us tell this story and share the impact of Identity with a much larger audience.”

Erin’s House hired PUNCH Films to produce the video as part of its efforts to raise awareness of the Identity program and its outreach services. The project was funded through a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., awarded to Erin’s House in 2023.

“Erin’s House is one of those organizations that makes a real difference in our community, and we always enjoy the opportunity to help tell their story,” said Derek Devine, owner of PUNCH Films. “Working with Erick and the Erin’s House team has been such a rewarding experience. They have an incredible mission, and the Identity Program is a powerful example of how they are finding new ways to reach children and families who need grief support. We’re proud that this video received a Gold Telly and even more proud to have played a part in sharing the work Erin’s House is doing.”