How Emmy® Award Competitions handled 570% more users with Laravel

Developers at Crowd Favorite used Laravel to modernize the Emmy® Awards system and unlock the scalability the Emmys needed to grow 10x in just two years. 

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS), the organization behind the Emmy Awards, needed to update its outdated technology. Facing challenges with systems that couldn’t handle the growing complexity of Emmy competitions, NATAS partnered with Crowd Favorite to create Orthicon, a custom competition management platform built on Laravel. The solution transformed how Emmy competitions are managed—making processes more efficient, scalable, and user-friendly.

“With Orthicon, we didn’t just replace an outdated system–we built an innovative engine. Using Laravel, we created a unified platform that empowers NATAS to run multiple Emmy competitions with greater control, less risk, and the flexibility to evolve as their needs change.” - Karim Marucchi, CEO of Crowd Favorite.

The Challenge: NATAS’ Old System Couldn’t Scale

Since 1955, NATAS has celebrated excellence in television with awards like the Daytime, Sports, News & Documentary, and Children’s & Family Emmys. But as these competitions grew in scale and complexity, their legacy systems couldn’t keep up. 

The previous setup was designed for single competitions, requiring redundant workflows and multiple logins across separate instances. NATAS staff were bogged down by manual reconciliation, payment tracking, and reporting. Judges and participants faced inconsistent, often clunky experiences. And with events like the Sports Emmys processing over 10,000 submissions annually, the strain was obvious. 

NATAS didn’t just need a system refresh–they needed a total reinvention. 

The Solution: Orthicon by Crowd Favorite, Built on Laravel

To meet the challenge, Crowd Favorite developed Orthicon: a scalable, multi-tenant platform built on Laravel that modernized the competition management process.

“Laravel gave us the tools to break free from the limitations of a legacy, one-size-fits-all system. We built Orthicon as a modular, multi-tenant application with isolated competition logic, layered permissions, and automated workflows–making it possible to support dozens of Emmy competitions with varying rules, timelines, and reporting needs. It’s clean, adaptable, and fully integrated with NATAS’s broader ecosystem.” - Adam Buckeridge, Director of Client Delivery at Crowd Favorite.

Laravel delivered: 

1. Flexibility. Modular architecture enabled a tailored platform that fit Emmy competitions precisely.
2. Scalability. The system now supports 7,000+ users and 16,500+ entries per cycle—with plenty of room to grow.
3. Reliability. Laravel’s ecosystem allows for efficient, on-time development without cutting corners.

Key Features of Orthicon:

Orthicon introduced new functionality, including: 

• Multi-Tenant Architecture. One platform to manage all Emmy competitions, reducing redundancy and giving users unified access.
• Automated Workflows. Templates for custom rules, AWS media transcoding, and seamless Stripe/QuickBooks integrations simplified every step.
• Role-Based Dashboards. 
• Participants track submissions across competitions from one login. 
• Judges see only what they need with transparent scoring tools. 
• Administrators manage and export data with ease.
• Real-Time Updates
• RabbitMQ and WebSockets enable instant notifications for submissions, video status, and deadlines.
• Security and Compliance
• Role-based access, robust authentication, and encryption keep data secure and workflows compliant.