UNT professors, students and alumni win at media arts festival

Two students, four former students and two faculty members from the University of North Texas’ Department of Media Arts won awards from the Broadcast Education Association’s Festival of Media Arts.

Xiaoqun Zhang, assistant professor in the department, won first place in the Open Paper category of the International Division for his work, “Assessing the Media Visibility of China’s President Xi Jinping’s First 3-Year Governance in The New York Times.” Jason Balas, an associate professor in the department, received an Award of Excellence in the Promotional Video Category for, “College of Arts & Sciences Promo.”

Johnathan Martin, who earned his bachelor’s degree in fine arts in 2013 and his Master of Fine Arts last May, won second place in the Long Form Video or Film Documentary Category for, “The Great Hanging.” Former student Scott Sidway won second place in the Radio Newscast Category for, “Texas Super Tuesday Election Update-10:30 p.m.” and Robert Janney, a senior majoring in radio, television and film won an award of excellence in the Feature Category for, “Bessie.”

In the narrative category the following UNT students and recent graduates received an Award of Excellence:

*Shaffiat Folahan, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in December, for, “What the Lake Held”

*Peyton Reed, who graduated last May with a bachelor’s in radio, television and film, for, “Ripple”

*Miranda Tamez, a senior majoring in radio, television and film, for, “Alice”

The Broadcast Education Association’s Festival of Media Arts is open to faculty and student members. Last year, the festival received more than 1,530 total entries in 15 competitions. Competition entries range from dramatic narratives, to non-fiction documentary and news to the frontiers of interactive multimedia. Prizes will be awarded during the annual convention in April in Las Vegas. The association is the premiere international academic media organization driving insights, excellence in media production and career advancement for educators, students and professionals. The aim of BEA is to serve as a forum for exposition, analysis and debate of issues of social importance to develop members’ awareness and sensitivity to these issues and to their ramifications, which will ultimately help students develop as more thoughtful practitioners.