Communications Department reaps top awards
Campus Times
November 7, 1997
La Verne Magazine led a barrage of awards received by the University
of La Verne Communications Department in the past six months.
The 1996-97 La
Verne Magazine captured an overall Gold Medalist award and received
three of four possible All-Colombian Award honors given for superior achievement
on concept, design and creativity from the Columbia
Scholastic Press Association (CSPA), scoring 969 out of 1,000 possible
points.
"To judge from La Verne Magazine, the University of La Verne
must be an excellent place to get an education. Again, congratulations to
everyone involved," said a CSPA judge.
"The Columbia University service is the most prestigious organization
in the country and is used to determine where our department stands compared
to other schools. We have never earned a Gold Medalist Award before. Based
on this award, it is accurate for me to say we have one of the best university
magazines -- and departments -- in the United States," said Dr. George
Keeler, Communications Department chair and faculty adviser of La Verne
Magazine.
The Alliance for Community Media
(ACM), a national public access television group, runs the Hometown Video
Festival, the largest video contest in the world, and 1997 La Verne graduate
Pete Carona took first place in the Music Video category with his production
"Matty."
Also a national finalist in the Sports Entertainment category at the
festival was 1996 graduate Richard McManus and his sports compilation show
"La Verne Sports Magazine."
Further extending the national presence of the ULV broadcasting program
was 1997 graduate Kieron Estrada and his production of "Prodigal."
His dramatic video won first place in the Non-Professional Entertainment
category of the 1997 Western Access Video Excellence awards (WAVE).
National finalist in WAVE's Professional Entertainment category went
to "Ramayana," a southeast Asian shadow puppet and marionette
show produced and directed by Don Pollock, associate professor of communications.
First place winner of WAVE's professional Sports Coverage went to part-time
faculty member J.R. Ybarra for his "Motor Sports Magazine."
"Blue Notes featuring John B. Williams," co-produced by radio/television
assistant Shane Rodrigues and Pollock and directed by Rodrigues, also was
a national finalist in the Non-Professional Performing Arts Coverage category.
Also recently in the College Media Advisers (CMA) television awards
were two more ULV finalists. Estrada earned contention with his production
of the 32nd Annual Winston Cup Finals for the National Hot Rod Association
drag races, as did senior broadcast journalism major Andrea Gardner, whose
production of "A Dry Campus" portrayed the presence of alcohol
on ULV's dry campus.
At the National Association of College Broadcasters (NACB) awards, ULV
students earned two more national finalist rankings with further outcomes
pending the Nov. 15-17 judging finalization.
Senior broadcasting major Aundraya Ross earned a finalist spot for the
Performing Arts category with her direction of the Cinco de Mayo Drumming
Festival, produced by Pollock. And Estrada was once again named a finalist
for "Prodigal" in the Drama Entertainment category.
"I think there are two things happening: We have been doing certain
things in the program for a long time now and the students are meeting and
exceeding those expectations, and also we have been lucky enough to get
some money from the city of La Verne and we have used that money to improve
equipment. We bought some professional level equipment that makes the student
projects look better," said Pollock.
Rounding out the Communications Department's achievements for the past
scholastic year was the Campus Times, winning Silver and Bronze Medalist
awards from CSPA.
The Silver Medalist award went to the spring 1997 Campus Times
under Editor Raechel Fittante, scoring 854 points out of the possible 1,000.
The Bronze Medalist award went to the fall 1996 Campus Times
under direction of Editor Christie Reed, which scored 835 points out of
1,000.
