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The Shade Room won both the Webby Award and the People’s Voice Award in the 2026 Video & Film category for Interview or Talk Show. AC Trybula is credited as an executive producer.
Content note. The interview discusses sexual abuse and grooming.
The two awards went to “Surviving Epstein: Lisa Phillips Opens Up About Grooming, Power, and Speaking Her Truth,” an episode of Stepping Into The Shade Room hosted by Thembi Mawema. In the interview, Phillips shares her experience of abuse and reflects on power, survival, and what it took to speak publicly about what happened. See the official Webby Awards listing and credits.
The Shade Room reported 13.4 million impressions, more than 11 million video views across platforms, 2.6 million YouTube views, more than 68 years of watch time, and 219,000 engagements in the award announcement. Read AC Trybula’s LinkedIn announcement.
Lisa Phillips’s response to the wins
Phillips congratulated the team on Instagram and singled out the edit and the interview questions. “This edit cuts to so many good parts of the interview,” she wrote. See the Instagram announcement.
See the comment in contextWatch the Webby Awards announcement clip.
As an executive producer, I’m proud of the care our team brought to this episode. I’m especially grateful to Lisa for trusting us with her story and sharing it in her own words.
