Cape Town, October 2026 – Accenture Song South Africa yesterday announced that its multi-award-winning documentary, The Philipstown WireCar Grand Prix, has been nominated for a 2026 International Emmy Award. The nomination puts this joyful, distinctly South African story of children, ingenuity and community in a small Northern Cape town on one of the biggest stages in international television.
The documentary, availble to view on Prime Video, is one of just four productions nominated in the Sports Documentary category at the 54th International Emmy Awards. It goes up against Baila, Vini from Brazil, Temps Mort (Time-Out) from Spain and Tom Daley: 1.6 Seconds from the UK, produced with Warner Bros. Discovery and the Olympic Channel.
The Philipstown WireCar Grand Prix was created by Accenture Song South Africa in partnership with the Philipstown WireCar Foundation. It was produced by Giant Films, with South African filmmaker Paul Ward as director, and tells the story of an annual race in which children from Philipstown build handmade wire cars from scrap materials and race them over roughly three kilometres. The documentary formed part of a larger campaign to increase the town’s visibility and attract sponsorship for its youth upliftment programme.
It uniquely combined documentary storytelling with technology developed by Accenture Song to give audiences a new perspective on the race.
“Technology and creativity gave us a new way to tell a very human story,” says Tseliso Rangaka, Chief Creative Officer of Accenture Song South Africa. “During the race, we tracked the children’s handmade wire cars and digitally mapped Philipstown, using that data to recreate the race as a virtual Grand Prix. We could then transform the children and their cars into larger-than-life digital racers. The technology wasn’t there for technology’s sake, it helped us see the race through the children’s eyes and bring that perspective to audiences in a way film alone couldn’t.”
For Accenture Song, the nomination marks an extraordinary year for a piece of South African work that has already attracted major international recognition, including at Cannes Lions, The One Show, Tribeca X, Webbys, the Clio Awards and BrandStorytelling, the Sundance-affiliated festival celebrating brand-funded entertainment.”
Executive Creative Director team Cameron Watson and Devin Kennedy say the aim of the Philipstown project was always to get the kids’ story seen by as many different people and institutions as possible, which in turn would create sustainable change for the town.
“An International Emmy nomination changes the scale of that visibility. A story that began with children racing wire cars in a small Karoo town is now being seen alongside some of the biggest names in global television. That is an extraordinary achievement for Philipstown – and Accenture Song South Africa. It shows how a genuinely great South African story can cross borders and resonate with audiences around the world,” they say.
Philipstown is a small Karoo town in the Northern Cape, making the scale of the documentary’s international recognition particularly striking. In less than a year, the story has travelled from a local race to some of the world’s most influential creative and entertainment platforms – and now to the International Emmys in New York.
The film’s Emmy nomination is also one of just two nominations for South Africa at this year’s International Emmys, alongside actor Ian Roberts’ nomination for A Kind of Madness.
The 54th International Emmy Awards take place in New York on 23 November 2026.
To support the Philipstown WireCar Foundation visit www.philipstownwirecar.com. Watch the documentary on Prime Video.
