More Than Luck | Eastern North Carolina Now

 Publisher's note: The author of this post, Jackie Drake, is a contributor to ECU News Services.

Communication students heading to Las Vegas for national convention

 It's hard work rather than luck bringing East Carolina University students to Las Vegas this weekend. Communication students from ECU have been preparing all semester to produce a live awards ceremony for a national convention being held there April 17-20.

 The Broadcast Education Association chose ECU to produce its "Best in Festival" ceremony for its annual convention, BEA2016. Taking place Monday night, the ceremony showcases winning work from the BEA's Festival of Media Arts done by broadcast faculty and students from across the country. Categories include radio and television news, interactive multimedia, documentary, sports and more.

 ECU students have been creating short videos for various elements of the ceremony. Monday night, the students will be behind the scenes to coordinate the videos with remarks from presenters and recipients onstage before an audience in the hundreds.

 "It's like the Oscars or Golden Globes, only this won't be televised," said ECU communication professor Dr. Glenn Hubbard, who has been overseeing the project. "It's a really big job. I think it's going to be great. I'm so proud of the students."

 The ceremony will run approximately two hours and contains a total of 30 video elements, including an introduction, mini-features on each of the 18 winners and various graphics. Each student was assigned to feature a different winner using the winners' submitted footage.

 Only a select few institutions have been asked to produce this ceremony, according to Hubbard. BEA membership includes more than 400 colleges and universities offering degrees in electronic media, along with media outlets and companies.

 "It's really an opportunity for us to shine, and also for students to experience something really cool," Hubbard said. "The entire world of broadcasting will be there."

 The BEA convention is held in conjunction with the National Association of Broadcasters trade show, which draws more than 100,000 media professionals to view new technology and techniques. In addition to participating in the BEA convention, students can go to the NAB trade show and network with participants.

 "I'm extremely excited," said ECU senior communication major Caroline West, who handled most of the ceremony project's graphics. "We've been working on this all semester and this week we got everything squared away. We're looking forward to the trip even more now. It's exciting knowing that we're producing and directing this awards ceremony. It's something not a lot of students get to do."

 West has never been to Las Vegas before aside from flying through the airport. Originally from Sanford, she has worked at The East Carolinian student newspaper since coming to campus. She doesn't have any formal schooling in graphic design or video, but she learned on the job to become the founder of TEC TV, a new weekly webcast produced by newspaper staff.

 "This is an opportunity to network with major companies, and it's a chance to see what's going on in media right now," she said. "I'm so excited ECU is a part of this ceremony. It's really special for the BEA to have ECU produce it. We are good at what we do. We have lots of talented students and professors here."

 BEA staff were familiar with Hubbard's work from a regional festival and invited him to take on the national ceremony. Hubbard asked if he could involve students, which was the deciding factor in his acceptance.

 Hubbard hand-picked ten students from ECU, and they set up a special topics class in the School of Communication dedicated to the project. They're also working with five students from Western Carolina University under one of Hubbard's colleagues there.

 The BEA is paying for the students' hotel stay, but students have to pay their own travel expenses. To cover their flights to Vegas, they've held various fundraisers and started a GoFundMe account, which will remain open after the convention.

 "I'm happy to have gotten this opportunity, and it's also an opportunity for ECU," said senior communication major Ryan Clancy, editor of The East Carolinian. "I'm excited to see all the videos come together and show off what we can do. Some parts of the country still haven't heard of ECU. This might change that. It's a chance to put ECU's name out there in a good light."

 Clancy's assigned winner was David Chanatry of Utica College, who won the radio hard news reporting category with a story on New York citizens who blockaded a gas company from expanding in Seneca Lake. Clancy worked with Chanatry to get extra visuals to add to the radio footage to produce the video.

 "Radio is new to me, so it was neat to see how he put it all together," Clancy said. "He told a complex story well. It was an effective radio piece. I'm always interested in any way of telling a good story. It's a big deal to see up close what other colleges are doing. Someday ECU will win one of these awards."

 For more information on this trip or to provide support, contact Ryan Clancy at clancyr12@students.ecu.edu.

 Click here to view the follow-up article.


Communication students from ECU went to Charlotte earlier this semester along with partnering students from WCU to see a broadcast facility as part of preparations for this weekend’s convention of the Broadcast Education Association. (Contributed photo)