Three HBCU content creation teams earned a prestigious honor this past week thanks to the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
NATAS, in partnership with Coca-Cola, announced three winners of the 2026 Coca-Cola HBCU Sports Production Grant.
The program, in its fifth year, totals $40,000 dollars for each winner and “recognizes outstanding student storytellers at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) who are passionate about sports, storytelling and media production.”
First place and $25,000 went to Morehouse students Stevie Jackson, Mateo McIntosh, Makai Brown and Ian Chamberlin (“Before The Bell: the origins of Morehouse boxing”), second place and $10,000 to Darnell Walker-Jones, Charmiana Delphonse and Rowan Mumford of Florida A&M (“Tough Leather”), and Delaware State’s Sanaiyah Baines-Butler and Tia Jarvis (“First to the Mat”) earned third place and $5,000.
Each winner was notified by NATAS co-chair Danielle Mannion and Sports Emmys host, FAMU’s own Roy Wood Jr.
View this post on Instagram
A record number of submissions, an 88% increase over the past year, were driven by the efforts of the volunteer HBCU committee made up of industry professionals such as Wood, Drew Watkins and Howard Bryant.
The winners will be flown to New York City for the 47th annual Sports Emmys, which take place May 26 through May 28.
