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Cathedral Basilica Of Saints Peter And Paul Honored With Two Telly Awards For Travel And Tourism

By Steve Tawa

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- One of Philadelphia's spiritual and historic institutions, the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, has won two 'Telly Awards.'

The mother church of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was completed in 1864 on the Ben Franklin Parkway, and is the subject of a Philadelphia Visitors Channel brief video seen in area hotel rooms, featuring Monsignor Arthur Rodgers.

"You know the (Cathedral) Basilica is really a center for liturgic life of the Archdiocese," Rodgers says. "But it's also a tourist center."

The Tellys honor both cable TV commercials and non-broadcast productions like this one, according to Visitors Channel Creative Director Rich Glassman:

"One of the challenges we had was to not make it a purely religious piece," Glassman says.

Visitors Channel General Manager Matt Radico says their industry peers awarded the Cathedral Basilica spot a Bronze Telly, and it garnered a People's Telly Silver, the highest honor, based on votes from viewers on the Internet.

"The goal of the Visitors Channel and videos that we make is to bring people who are visiting Philadelphia, sitting in a hotel room, to come out and see these treasures that the city has."

The awards are designed by the same firm that makes the Oscars and Emmys.

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