Over his 30-year career in media, Robert Van Camp has earned numerous accolades, including 21 Emmy Awards. His first award came in 1991 when he was a news photographer and producer at WFMY News 2 in Greensboro, NC, for a piece on the Yadkin Valley Railroad. This earned him the Radio and Television News Directors of the Carolinas award for “Best Use of Photography” and Gannett's "Photographer of the Year." In 1993, he won similar awards for a photo essay on Steam Engine 1702 in the North Carolina mountains and a Gannett award for a segment on the Appalachian Trail.

In 1994, Van Camp produced his first public television documentary, covering the Great Smoky Mountains Railway, which earned him his first Emmy. From 1994 to 2021, he went on to win 21 Emmys for public television projects, most notably for his acclaimed Great Scenic Railway Journeys series. Other notable awards include three Emmys for a program on North Carolina's Outer Banks and another for “Blurred Lines,” an impactful piece on drunk driving that was also honored by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the North Carolina Governor’s Highway Safety Program, and Students Against Driving Drunk. In 2014, Great Scenic Railway Journeys received American Public Television's "Program Excellence Award," recognizing the series' long-running success in fundraising and high production quality.