A Vicksburg native has been honored for his role in a Mississippi Public Broadcasting documentary.

John Lanford, MPB’s chief of videography, and his team of five won a 2010 Southeast Regional Emmy for “The Gulf Islands: Mississippi’s Wilderness Shore,” broadcast in 2009.

“It’s nice to have this recognition,” said Lanford, 45, the documentary’s co-producer and photographer. “It’s affirming of your work.”

The documentary won the Outstanding Achievement in Television Crafts Achievement Excellence award in the category of Photographer-Program (Non-News)/Short Form, and was nominated for the Outstanding Achievement in Television Programming Excellence award in the category of Documentary-Historical. Winners were recognized at a June 26 gala in Atlanta.

“MPB is thrilled to have been recognized with these nominations and win, and will continue the same high quality of programming,” MPB Executive Director Judy Lewis said in a statement. “I am very proud of our staff that works so hard and truly deserves this high honor.”

Filmed and aired nationwide last year, the documentary focused on Mississippi’s barrier islands, which are part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore that spans more than 160 miles to Okaloosa Island near Fort Walton, Fla.

The barrier islands in Mississippi are Cat, East and West Ship, Horn and Petit Bois, plus the Davis Bayou area in Ocean Springs.

The documentary, available online at www.mpbonline.org, was used as a supplement to Ken Burns’ “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” also aired in 2009, Lanford said.

Lanford, a 1983 graduate of Warren Central High School, studied radio, TV and film at the University of Southern Mississippi. He has been with MPB since 1996, working on TV programs such as “Mississippi Roads” and “Job Hunter.” He worked at The Vicksburg Post, in the circulation department, during the 1980s.

The Southeast Regional Emmy group is a chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The chapter, based in Atlanta, includes Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and Asheville, N.C.

Lanford, who lives in Clinton, is the son of Toni Lanford-Ferguson of Vicksburg and the late Charles Bowie Lanford.