CNN received a Technical Emmy last night for a portable kit it developed in 1999…

CNN’s digital newsgathering operations garnered its third prestigious honor for innovation in recent months during the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards dinner on Monday, Jan. 7, for developing an unrivaled portable kit that enables journalists to report, edit and produce news packages from nearly anywhere on the globe. The National Academy of Television and Arts and Sciences presented the award at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

CNN opened a new chapter in the use of technology in newsgathering through the use of lightweight kits that combine cameras, editing tools and advanced satellite and Internet communications technology into a laptop-based system. This suite of new technologies enable journalists to employ immediate live and video FTP submissions, real-time content monitoring, editing and voice communication from anywhere in the field.

The academy cited CNN for the “development and implementation of an integrated and portable IP-based live, edit and store-and-forward digital newsgathering system.”

“Our technical and satellite crews often stand as the unsung heroes of our industry, particularly when their innovations are integrated into our daily journalism so seamlessly as to almost appear invisible to the viewers,” said Tony Maddox, managing director for CNN International. “To be honored by your peers for just doing your job is the greatest of tributes. I’m so proud that our crews are able to celebrate this tremendous success.”

The Emmy award marks the third major accolade bestowed upon CNN’s digital newsgathering operations over the past five months. In September 2007, the International Broadcasting Conference, a leading global association guiding content delivery innovations within the broadcast industry, honored CNN with two of its IBC Innovation awards, including a “Judges’ Prize” for the top innovation of the past year. CNN was also cited for its use of the digital newsgathering system for its coverage of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in July 2006.

Although CNN first developed the portable digital newsgathering system in 1999 and employed them in coverage of the Southeast Asia tsunami and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the network has used the kits to their greatest effect over the past two years.

For coverage of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in 2006, CNN’s anchors broadcast mainly from various locations in the region using conventional uplink dishes allowing correspondents file live reports in remote areas using portable transmission gear they fit into backpacks. Following the Virginia Tech shootings last year, CNN crews relied upon the systems to move efficiently and unobtrusively across the embattled campus.

More recently, CNN journalists have employed the kits in coverage of severe weather situations and for campaign stops for the current U.S. presidential campaign.