University News

Student Creativity on Display at WNE Media Festival

By: By Edelinda Baptista '20 | Published: May 15, 2019 | Categories: All News, Alumni, Arts and Sciences
Student Award Recipients at Media Festival
For 17 years, the annual Media Festival has provided students the chance to showcase their creative work to a panel of judges. On May 2, students won awards from categories including Music Video, Short Film, Westerner Newspaper Article, Nonprofit Film, TV Report, PSA/TV Commercial, Radio News Report, Radio Personal Essay, and Photography.

Media Festival – now run by Student Media organization Golden Bear Television (GBTV) – was originally the brainchild of Communication professor Brenda Garton-Sjoberg and former adjunct film professor Jeff Bemiss. They developed the event as a way to share students’ creative work with a large audience consisting of other students and supportive professionals in the media industry.

Garton-Sjoberg’s desire is to see students flourish and succeed, and she eagerly awaits this event throughout the year. “It's my favorite day of the academic year to see students recognized for their hard work and excellent projects. In many cases, [students] have been hired by those professionals who met them and judged their work at the annual Festival,” she stated.

GBTV station manager MacKenzie VanNosdall and other executive board members staged the event with the Oscars in mind, wanting to give the occasion a formal feel. The all-alumni panel of judges included John Abbott ’18, David Cicero ’13, Dominique Corveddu ’18, Payton North ’17, Bobby Souza ’10, Ken Stratton ’19, and Stephanie Trombley ’17. Each judge had submitted his or her own work to the Media Festival as a student, and returned to see how other students are working creatively.

VanNosdall was just as excited about surveying students’ work as she was managing the event: “It's a fun way for students to work as hard as they can to create the best work possible in order to compete against their classmates,” she said.

Media Festival allows students to step out of their comfort zone and display their talents. Their hard work throughout the year pays off during this event, as their creativity and originality are recognized and celebrated by their peers and industry professionals.

Learn more about Media Festival