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Two students take first place in national contest.
June 16, 2021
Two Ferris State University students received first place at the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS), 2021 Michigan chapter. NATAS is a professional organization (most well-known for its Emmy Award) that focuses on recognizing and promoting the arts and sciences of television.
The award-winning video was produced by seniors in the Television and Digital Media Production (TDMP) program, Vernard Norris and Lacie Stevens. Each week, as part of Professor Glen Okonoski’s TDMP 499 Advanced Producing and Directing Capstone class, students create and produce a magazine show. Students are given segment categories weekly; from there they choose specifically what they wish to focus on.
When students Norris and Stevens discovered they had the segment, “Big Rapids Life,” they chose to reach out to our local fire department. With the firemen agreeing to work with the students, the Big Rapids Life: Fire Department segment grew its legs.
In the spring, faculty members from the TDMP program review the segments that students created the previous two and a half semesters to enter the ones they feel should be recognized by the NATAS. The Big Rapids Life: Fire Department segment was entered by faculty to the Public Affairs/Community Service Category.
Recognition from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is an honor, as it is open to all high school, college, and university students within the state of Michigan.
The Magazine show, titled “FerrisInFocus,” airs on Ferris State’s cable channel (Charter Cable), on the College Channel (Comcast) in Grand Rapids, and the show streams from www.FerrisState.TV
The segments also stream individually, organized by segment, on the TDMP YouTube channel.