In January 2012, the documentary of The Webtel.mobi Intercontinental Challenge won the Award of Excellence and the Best Editing Award at the 2012 Los Angeles Movie Awards, in the Documentary Short category.
Stuart Sterzel conceptualized and planned all aspects of the Webtel.mobi Intercontinental Challenge over three years in great detail - down to the precise date, day and time of the event initiation. There were over 2000 separate aspects to attend to on the critical path for implementation. He had intended to appoint an international events and marketing agency to implement and manage it, and a film production company to film and broadcast it. However, the lowest cost quote from international events and marketing agencies to implement and manage it was 20 million Pounds Sterling (US$32 million at that time) for the management alone, and the quote for sourcing, coordinating and managing the additional companies required for implementation, and liaising with and obtaining licenses and authorizations from government departments in Morocco and Spain, was quoted an additional 30 million Pounds Sterling US$49 million at that time). On top of this, they quoted a personnel requirement of 100 to 150 persons working on various aspects of management and administration, and up to eighteen months to implement - without any guarantee of success. Other than this, the film production company informed him that it was impossible to do a live television broadcast while crossing the North Atlantic, and that it was also completely impossible to broadcast and mix audio into Internet live streaming under those circumstances. It informed him that they would have to radically alter his plan, appoint multiple producers and directors, and that it would cost an extremely large amount of money. They also informed him that if he went ahead as he wanted to, that they would not be involved, as it would be a total failure (in their words - a "xxxx up"). Stuart therefore informed them that under those circumstances, he would do it himself. He therefore ended communications with the event and marketing agency and the film production company, and implemented and managed the Challenge himself. To assist him, he appointed an event management team of 6 people from within his own company and one contracting company, assembled an international team of 50 specialist companies, and completed the preparation and implementation within 3 months and 10 days from the beginning of implementation to the day of the Challenge - all at a cost of well under US$ 1 million, all-in for every single aspect of the Challenge, the broadcast thereof, and the production of the documentary.
The Webtel.mobi Intercontinental Challenge was able to be broadcast and Internet live-streamed worldwide due to an ingenious system structured by Bart Stobart of Associated Press Corporate Services and Bruno Coudyzer of Alfacam. Microwave transmitters were fitted to the Cineflex camera (operated by Evert Cloetens of Wim Robberechts & Co.) in the camera helicopter, and to all other cameras on the ground and in the other helicopters. These transmitted a signal to sophisticated receiving and transmitting radio equipment in a King Air light aircraft which circled above the Challenge route over the North Atlantic. The King Air transmitted the signal to the Outside Broadcast vehicle of Alfacam on the Spanish Coast where footage and audio was mixed according to the instructions of the Outside Broadcast Director Gerd Kaiser. From there it was transmitted it to the Satellite Broadcast vehicle of Associated Press Corporate Services on the Spanish coast, which transmitted it to satellites over Europe, Asia and North America, and to the BT Tower in London. From there it went to all television stations worldwide for the television broadcast, and to the live streaming team of companies - Akamai Technologies, Groovy Gecko, Sat Stream, Isotoma and the Google App Engine - for international live Internet streaming. The delay between the filming over the North Atlantic to arrival of the mixed audio visual picture on television stations and the worldwide was less than three seconds.
The Webtel.mobi Intercontinental Challenge was timed to take place at a time when most of the world was awake (evening to night in Central Asia / Asian Subcontinent / South East Asia; afternoon in Europe / Middle East / Africa; morning in North America / South America), to enable the maximum number of persons worldwide to be able to see it live.
On the day of the Challenge, Webtel.mobi became - for the period of The Webtel.mobi Intercontinental Challenge - the largest TV broadcaster in the world, as its live footage was picked up and re-broadcast by (with syndication) several thousand television stations, channels and networks worldwide.