04/16/15
The digital media team at Fort Hays State University recently won six first-place broadcast awards and two second-place awards at the Kansas Association of Broadcasters (KAB) competition.

"The team has won more first-place awards this year than the last 15 years FHSU has participated in the KAB awards," said Toby Yoshimura, associate professor of informatics.

FHSU teams won first-place awards in TV Play-by-Play Sports; Complete Sports Feature; Entertainment Production-Graduate TV; Sports Cast-Graduate TV; Complete Sports Feature-Graduate TV; and Station Promotion-Graduate TV.

The Play-by-Play team was C.D. DeSalvo, Garden City junior majoring in information networking and telecommunications, and Garret Sager, Salina senior majoring in information networking and telecommunications.

The Complete Sports Feature team was:
Nicole Elwood, Topeka junior majoring in information networking and telecommunications.
Andy Feng, Xinzheng, China, graduate student majoring in liberal studies (digital cinema production).
Jason Gao, Xinyang, China, graduate student majoring in liberal studies (digital cinema production).
Adam Kee, Natoma senior majoring in information networking and telecommunications.
Douglas Liu, Xinzheng, China, graduate student majoring in liberal studies (digital cinema production).

The Entertainment Production-Graduate TV and Sports Cast-Graduate TV team was Tyler Parks, Elkhart graduate student majoring in liberal studies (digital cinema production); Cooper Slough, Goodland sophomore majoring in information networking and telecommunications; and Feng, Gao, Kee and Liu.

The Complete Sports Feature-Graduate TV and Stage Promotion-Graduate TV team was Feng, Gao, Liu, Parks and Slough.

FHSU received second place in the Complete Sports Feature and the 30-Second Commercial Spot categories.

Ken Moreno, Charlotte, N.C., senior majoring in information networking and telecommunications, Parks and Slough were the sports feature team.

Trevor Rohn, Hays senior majoring in information technology and telecommunications, and Feng, Gao, Kee, Liu, Moreno, Parks and Slough and were the 30-second commercial team.

Entries were judged on excellence, believability, creativity and effectiveness.

"These students are competing on a professional-grade level," said Yoshimura. "They get access to my stable of Hollywood producers, directors, writers and major scripted series companies in New York and Los Angeles because they plan to work in major films and television."

The unit is student run and feeds its award-winning programming to Tiger Media Network, the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association and National Collegiate Athletic Association, as well as Eagle Communications, the FHSU TV Channel and Smoky Hills Television Public Broadcast Station.

"These are very special students," said Yoshimura. "They compete at an elevated tempo that mirrors the real world of entertainment. They rose to the occasion. They deserve applause for the great work they have done."