The blue crab is the undisputed star of the Chesapeake, but on June 6, film and video studies professor Jonathan Slade picked up an Emmy as producer, writer and editor of a documentary about Maryland’s favorite crustacean.

The half-hour program helped to kick off Maryland’s public television’s fourth annual Chesapeake Bay Week last April, and features the “ten commandments” for eatin’ crabs, from picking the critters fresh from the water to knowing their peak season, to the most famed crab shacks.

Slade, who admits that he’s not a crab-picker himself, savored his 15 seconds of fame when invited to accept the regional award at the D.C.-Ritz-Carlton where the creative television teams from Maryland, Virginia, and the District hobnobbed and anxiously awaited the Emmy announcements.

Slade received his BA in Communication from McDaniel in 1988, and his MFA in Cinema-Television Production from the University of Southern California in 1991. For 11 years, he was a full-time producer of documentaries and children’s programming at Maryland Public Television where he received four Emmy Awards for the educational “Vid Kid” series he created, wrote, directed, and produced.

“Eatin’ Crabs Chesapeake Style” is available only through MPT as a pledge thank-you gift. To learn more, go online to mpt.org.