NEWS

Local angles: Durham; Kernersville; Wilmette, Ill.;

Jefferson, Ohio; Butler, Pa.; Salt Lake City, Bartow, Fla.

UNC broadcasting students win several first-, second-place awards in national competitions

By LISA RAMSAY
UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication

CHAPEL HILL -- "Carolina Week," a student-run television program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was named the best student television newscast in the country Saturday (April 6) by the Broadcast Education Association.

In all, the show and its students won five first- and second-place awards in BEA's inaugural student news award presentation in Las Vegas. "Carolina Week" students also nabbed two top awards in the latest William Randolph Hearst Foundation national competition.

In the BEA contests, "Carolina Week" entered four categories -- each with its own set of judges -- and won first place in each, plus second place in one.

The honors are particularly rewarding for students and faculty, considering that "Carolina Week" is only two years old, said C.A. Tuggle, assistant professor in the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication, where the newscast is based.

"When we went on the air in February 2000, our goal was to produce the best student news work in the country," he said. "It’s very gratifying that five different sets of judges have recognized the quality of the work our students are doing."

The four first-place wins were for senior Tim Nelson of Wilmette, Ill., in television hard news reporting; senior Nicole Brusik of Salt Lake City, who won both the radio features and television features categories; and "Carolina Week," for best student television newscast, produced by Melissa Sowry of Jefferson, Ohio, and Becky St. Clair of Durham. Senior Michelle Muscatello of Butler, Pa., picked up second place for television features.

BEA received 170 entries from colleges and universities across the country in all categories. A dozen UNC students were in Las Vegas for the presentation.

The BEA awards came on the heels of two Carolina wins in Hearst Foundation competition. In March, Nelson won first place in television hard news reporting, and junior Sudhir Kumar of Kernersville received second place in radio hard news reporting.

The two will go on to compete in the second round of the Hearst Competition. Each will find out later this month whether he is chosen as one of five students in their respective categories to go to San Francisco to compete in the final round.

"Carolina Week" is a 30-minute weekly newscast that is reported, written, produced and presented by about 35 undergraduate students at UNC. Partnerships have extended to include students from N.C. State University and N.C. Central University.

"Carolina Week" airs in Carolina residence halls on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 7 p.m. on Student Television Channel 2. Off campus, it airs on Time Warner Cable in Orange County on Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. and Fridays at 7:30 a.m. on Channel 8; in Durham on Fridays at 5:30 p.m. on Channel 8; and in Raleigh, on Saturdays at 3:30 p.m. on Channel 10.

For more information about the awards, contact Lisa Ramsay at 919-467-9918.

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Contacts: Lisa Ramsay and C.A. Tuggle, 919-962-5694