Southeastern Channel wins national videographer awards
Friday, December 18, 2015 
by: Tonya Lowentritt
NATIONAL AWARD WINNERS-The Southeastern Channel recently won national 2015 Videographer Awards for 16 student productions, including short films, music videos, promotional spots, and public service announcements along with a documentary, sportscast and entertainment show. Winners, seated from left, are Kristen Roussel of Hester, Danielle Shearer of Hammond, and Sarah Barbier of Mandeville. Standing, from left, are Southeastern Channel General Manager and class instructor Rick Settoon, Richard Mills of Hammond, Rachel Taylor of St. Amant, Mason Dauphin and Jordan Reid of Luling, Grace Jovanovic of Slidell, Drew Sagona of Carriere, Miss., and Steve Zaffuto, channel operations manager and class instructor.
HAMMOND – Sixteen Southeastern Channel student productions have been recognized with
2015 national Videographer Awards.
The Southeastern Channel, Southeastern Louisiana University’s educational access
channel airing on Charter Channel 199, won five first-place Awards of Excellence and
four second-place Award of Distinction honors along with seven honorable mentions.
The student-produced winners included short films, music videos, public service announcements,
and promotional spots, along with a documentary, sportscast and entertainment show.
Southeastern Channel students wrote, produced, directed, videotaped, edited,
anchored, hosted and reported all of the programs for the channel and production courses
in the electronic media concentration of the Department of Languages and Communication.
The awards are judged by industry professionals in the Association of Marketing
and Communication Professionals who look for talent that exceeds a high standard of
excellence and whose work serves as a benchmark for the industry.
Southeastern Channel first-place “Award of Excellence” winners included the short
film “GPS,” produced and directed by Kayla Hill of Walker with production team members
Colton Vickers of Ponchatoula, Adam Hebert of Prairieville, and Cady Carreras of Baton
Rouge; the music video “All About That Bass,” directed by Danielle Shearer of Hammond,
Sarah Barbier of Mandeville, Rachel Taylor of St. Amant, and Kristen Roussel of Hester;
a video promotional spot for the student sportscast, “The Big Game,” produced by
Shearer; a public service announcement, “Save Water,” produced by Roussel; and a
public service announcement, “Get Active,” produced by Barbier.
Channel programs winning a second-place “Award of Distinction” were the Sept. 25,
2014 episode of “The Big Game” sportscast, produced by Richard Mills of Hammond and
anchored by Mills, along with Jonathan Poche of New Orleans and Taylor Rubach of Mandeville;
the short film, “Sims in Real Life,” produced by Shearer, along with Taylor, Roussel
and Hill; the public service announcement, “Recycle,” produced by Hill; and the public
service announcement, “Northshore Recycling,” produced by Javon Monroe of Prairieville.
Those productions winning honorable mention were the student entertainment show
“College Night,” produced by Shearer and Taylor with contributions from Hill, Monroe,
Amairi Cordova of New Orleans, Madison Pullen of Baton Rouge, Molly Flynn of Amite,
Matt Flores and Grace Jovanovic of Slidell, and Mason Dauphin and Jordan Reid of Luling;
the documentary, “Drums Along the River,” produced, directed and edited by Drew Sagona
of Carriere, Miss., and videotaped by Flores; the short film “Emma,” produced, written,
directed, shot and edited by Barbier. The promotional spot honored was for “Southeastern
Telecourses” by Taylor; and the public service announcements awarded included “Are
You Okay?” by Jovanovic, “Big Brothers, Big Sisters” by Flores, and “Slavery Has a
Face” by Shearer.
“We’re absolutely thrilled that so many of our television and film students continue
to win national honors for their outstanding work,” said Rick Settoon, Southeastern
Channel general manager. “It’s a tribute to their talent, creativity, work ethic,
and high standards of quality. It’s also a credit to the Southeastern Channel staff
and faculty members who train them.”
There were over 1,300 entries from throughout the United States and several other
countries in the Videographer Awards 2015 competition. The “Award of Excellence” was
awarded to projects the judges deemed were written, produced, shot and edited in an
exceptional manner. The “Award of Distinction” was awarded for projects that exceeded
industry standards. Honorable mention recognition was also given.
In the past 12 years the Southeastern Channel has won over 200 national, international
and regional awards, including 12 Emmys. Channel video on demand programs and the
live 24/7 webcast can be seen at southeastern.edu/tv.
