Southeastern Channel named Best Television Station in the South
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
by: Tonya Lowentritt
SOUTHEASTERN CHANNEL IS BEST IN THE SOUTH-- The Southeastern Channel was recently honored with first place “Best Television Station in the South” recognition for the fifth time in eight years by the Southeast Journalism Conference, made up of schools from all states in the southeast U.S. The channel also won third place “Best of South” honors for “Best TV Newscast” for “Northshore News.” Individual students honored (from left) were Dylan Domangue of Houma, fifth place for “Best TV Journalist;” Lily Gayle of Greensburg, reporter for award-winning “Northshore News;” and Chris Rosato of Mandeville, third place for both “Best TV Journalist” and “Best TV Anchoring.”
HAMMOND – For the fifth time in the past eight years, the Southeastern Channel
has been recognized as the “Best College Television Station in the South.”
The channel earned first place “Best of South” honors for the second year in
a row and the third time in the past five years at the annual Southeast Journalism
Conference in Hattiesburg, Miss. Its five years of winning “Best TV Station” since
2013 are the most of any university in the southeast region of the U.S. During that
span the only times that the Southeastern Channel did not win first place, it won
second place.
The SEJC is composed of 39 universities from Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas,
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina. The Southeast Journalism
Conference celebrates student journalism and offers an opportunity for participants
to develop relationships with students from schools throughout the southeast United
States.
“It’s a great honor to once again be ranked as the very best college television
station in the South,” said Southeastern Channel General Manager Rick Settoon. “This
is a tribute to the high quality standards of our students, the Southeastern Channel
staff, and the television instructors in the Department of Communication and Media
Studies.”
In addition, the Southeastern Channel won third place for “Best College Video
Newscast” for the student newscast, “Northshore News.” The newscast has won first
place four times in the past nine years, the most of any school in the region.
In the individual categories, Chris Rosato of Mandeville won third place for
“Best Television Journalist in the South,” while Dylan Domangue of Houma placed fifth
in the same category. Rosato won for his hard news stories produced for the student
newscast, “Northshore News,” while Domangue won for both his “Northshore News” segments
and his sports feature stories produced for the student sportscast, “The Big Game.”
“Chris and Dylan are both very deserving of these top honors that separate them
as broadcast journalists and reporters from other students throughout the South,”
Settoon said. “They both take pride in the quality of their stories – from research
and writing to on-camera reporting, narrating, shooting and editing.”
“The results are packages which represent solid journalism with rich content
and information,” Settoon added. “They communicate their stories in a creative and
clear style so that they are engaging, meaningful and impactful for their viewing
audience. I know the judges were impressed.”
Rosato anchors and reports for “Northshore News,” recently named second best
college newscast in the country by College Broadcasters, Inc. He was also honored
recently by the Louisiana Association of Broadcasters as the “2019 Louisiana Student
Broadcaster of the Year in Television.” The LAB is made up of television and radio
professionals and stations in the state.
“It is a great honor to be recognized for this award, especially when taking
into account the level of talent of the people that I was competing against,” Rosato
said. “The Southeastern Channel has separated me from a lot of other people I’m competing
against by giving me the opportunity to cover real-world current event stories in
the community with public officials and everyday people and not just restrict me to
on campus assignments.”
Not only was Rosato honored for his television news reporting, he placed third
in the South for “Best Television Anchoring” in the onsite competition.
“To win an award in anchoring is meaningful because it’s a different job in putting
together a show, so to win an award for two different titles is awesome,” Rosato said.
For the last four years, Domangue has reported and anchored for both “Northshore
News” and “The Big Game,” honored by CBI has the best student sportscast in the country
in 2018 and named National Finalist the last three years by the College Sports Media
Awards.
“It’s a great honor to be one of those named as ‘Best Television Journalist in
the South,’” Domangue said. “This is a very competitive field, and there are so many
students in this field as well. At Southeastern alone I know there are over a dozen
student broadcasters who could all win this award. On top of that, we are competing
against other big schools with hundreds of students focused on broadcasting. I know
that every one of these students has the capability of winning Best TV Journalist.
So that I can say I won the award makes it that much more special.”
Domangue has also won individual honors as a reporter, videographer and on-camera
talent given by the Society of Professional Journalists, Louisiana-Mississippi Associated
Press College Broadcasters, and the Suncoast Emmys. He has produced, directed and
done play-by-play announcing for live sports broadcasts streaming on ESPN-Plus.
“I think what makes the Southeastern Channel unique compared to other schools
is the amount of student-produced content per semester,” Domangue said. “Students
at most schools don’t get the chance to report, anchor, direct and produce for live
weekly shows like we do at the Southeastern Channel. They do not offer everything
that we do from newscasts, to sportscasts, to a comedy show, all the way to broadcasting
sporting events for ESPN-Plus. I am so grateful that I have had the opportunity to
work for the Southeastern Channel, because I firmly believe it is the best college
program in the country for television broadcasting.”
In its 17 years of existence, the Southeastern Channel has won over 400 national,
international and regional awards, including 17 awards from the Emmys. The channel
can be seen on Spectrum Channel 199 in Tangipahoa, St. Tammany, Livingston, and St.
Helena parishes, while its live 24-7 broadcast is also streamed on Roku, Apple TV
and thesoutheasternchanel.com, which offers video on demand. The Southeastern Channel
can also be accessed through its Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube accounts.
