DENTON (UNT), Texas -- University of North Texas Media Arts students and faculty have earned a dozen awards from prominent organizations including the Broadcast Education Association, Lone Star Emmy Chapter of the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences, and the National Telly Awards. Categories ranged from audio, to video, to multimedia.
Festival of Media Arts
University of North Texas Media Arts students and faculty won a total of six awards and six honorable mentions at the Broadcast Education Association's Festival of Media Arts.
"This week we received news that our department tied in the nation for the highest number of festival awards with 12," said Eugene Martin, UNT media arts chair. "This international competition had more than 1,500 entries this year, so this accomplishment really places us on the map as a nationally ranked program."
The festival includes faculty and student competitions in the categories of audio, documentary, interactive multimedia, video, scriptwriting and news. The BEA is considered the premiere international academic media organization and uses the Festival of Media Arts to inspire excellence in media production. The list of student awards is as follows:
- Student Sports Competition Radio/TV Sports Event, Play-by-Play Talent category: First place for "Denton High v Grapevine on KNTU"
- Student Audio Competition Educational Program category: Third place to Michael B. Mullins for "Project Freeplay"
- Student Scriptwriting Competition Feature category: Third place to Madeleine Dunaway for "The Curtain Call"
- Student Video Competition Animation/Experimental/Mixed category: Third place for "Static Frame"
Media Arts student Katherine Hancock won the coveted Abe Voron Scholarship sponsored by the BEA. She was awarded $5,000 for use toward a career in radio. Six other students took home honorable mentions in audio, documentary, news and scriptwriting categories.
Eugene Martin, chair of media arts, took home top honors in the Faculty Video Competition. He earned the Award of Excellence in the Narrative Video category for his feature film "Marisol," which was recently screened at Denton's Thin Line Film Fest. Xiaoqun Zhang, media arts faculty, took home second place for his research paper in the Integrated Media Division.
Lone Star Emmy Student Production Awards
Students from ntTV earned four Lone Star Emmy Student Production Awards. The honors were for entertainment, information and news categories. The list follows:
- Newscast: Blane Skiles, news director; Jessica Connally, assistant news director; and the crew of ntTV Nightly News
- Long Form: Fiction: Austin James, creator/producer; Caleb Davis, creator/producer; Madeleine Dunaway, producer; and Millicent Macena, producer for "Badge Tail"
- Long Form: Non-Fiction: Priscilla Presley, executive producer; Melody Asgari, producer; Andrew Wilson, producer; and Jaci Mask, producer for "North Texas Now Goes to Austin (Season 9)"
- Talent: Blane Skiles, anchor/reporter for his work on ntTV
Phyllis Slocum, principal lecturer and station manager of ntTV, says winning the awards is an honor.
"These students are the future of media in all its variety," Slocum said. "These awards recognize the continued excellence of North Texas Television and our students."
NtTV has won a total of 29 Student Production awards from the Lone Star Emmy chapter in 13 years.
Telly Awards
NtTv took home the bronze Telly Award for "North Texas Now Goes to Austin." The Telly Awards honor the finest film and video productions, commercials, videos and films. There were more than 12,000 submissions for this year's awards.
Later this month, ntTV will find out if they won the Mark of Excellence award from the Society for Professional Journalists.
"Winning and being named finalists for these awards is an honor for all of us because we emphasize teamwork and education but, more importantly, personal and professional growth," Slocum said.