Eleven Communication students win national awards
FOR RELEASE: Monday, February 18, 2002
Huntington, Ind. "Eleven Huntington College Communication students were honored at the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) national convention in Nashville, Tennessee, February 16-19. Each year, students of Dr. Lance Clark, Assistant Professor of Communication, enter their original radio and television productions into the national competition of Intercollegiate Religious Broadcasters (IRB), a subdivision of the NRB. Five of the nine entries from Huntington College earned high honors in the 2002 competition. I am so proud how Huntington College is represented by our Communication students who are producing and writing high quality and entertaining media that has a powerful message for a hurting world, said Clark. Our students are both artists and scholars. It has been a passion of mine for several years to raise the level of excellence to higher and higher levels as we seek to be 'salt and light' with messages of love and redemption.
Taking first place in the TV/Video awards division of Field Production was Andrew Keck (Peru, Ind.) for his production of The Vision. The 30-minute variety program, started by HC graduate Josh Bean, deals with Christ in modern cultural issues aimed at high school students. It has been broadcast over the Dish Network and SkyAngel for two years.
Huntington College brought in three second-place honors, one in the Radio/Audio division and two in the TV/Video division. The radio drama titled Reborn was a 27-minute drama about a young woman who was raped, gave the child up for adoption and then had to find that child 18 years later to save her other young child.
We wanted to produce a drama about a sensitive subject with a positive undertone and conflict resolution, explained senior Kristen Freeman (Crawfordsville, Ind.), a member of that production team. Joining Freeman were HC students Zack Hill (Archbold, Ohio), Michael Szapkiw (Lagrange, Ind.) and Cassie Dupois.
The music video Lullaby by Keck, Freeman, Jonathan Rice (Lake Geneva, Wis.), David Bryan (Auburn, Ind.) and Lily Anderson (Virginia Beach, Va.) earned second place in the TV/Video awards. The music video chronicled the journey of a man who chased worldly success in his life only to find sin and later found rest, comfort and purification in submission to Christ.
Also, the studio production HCTV by Robert Johnston (Canton, Ohio), Heather Wiltse (Walker, Mich.) and Kathryn Nix (Fort Wayne, Ind.) earned second place honors.
Taking third in the TV/Video division was the Public Service Announcement Living Cross by Johnston and Keck. The 60-second PSA was done for the Huntington First Church of the Nazarene's musical/drama Easter Production of The Living Cross.
In addition, Rice placed first in the Al Sander's Scholarship essay competition, a program funded by Focus on the Family on behalf of Al Sanders, a pioneer in religious broadcasting. The competition is open to all full time US and Canadian undergraduate students who are majoring in communication, broadcasting or journalism. Each student who enters chooses from three topics. This year's topics included Armistice or Armageddon (spirituality in modern media), Caught Napping (ethical issues of Napster's use) and Se Habla Espanol (how evangelical Christian radio stations can meet Hispanic's needs).
Rice's paper, Armistice or Armageddon: Communicating Christ Without Presenting the Gospel, focused on spiritually-based films coming from Hollywood and the need for character-driven films produced by Christians that can compete with these productions. Rice's first place paper earned him a $1,000 scholarship award.
Huntington College is comprehensive Christian college of the liberal arts offering graduate and undergraduate programs in more than 50 academic concentrations. US News and World Report ranks Huntington among the best in the Midwest. Founded in 1897 by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Huntington College is located on a contemporary, lakeside campus in Huntington, Indiana.
