Southeastern Channel videographer wins first in the nation
Friday, January 22, 2021
by: Tonya Lowentritt 
FIRST PLACE IN THE NATION WINNER - Southeastern Louisiana University student Dylan Domangue of Houma has been honored by the Society of Professional Journalists with a national first-place Mark of Excellence Award in “Broadcast News Videography” for his videography in the story “Mayors Salary Debate” for the “Northshore News” student newscast. Domangue also won second place in the nation for “Broadcast Sports Videography,” while students John Sartori and Kaylee Normand of Mandeville won second place in the nation for “Best All-Around Television News Magazine” for an episode of “Southeastern Times.”
HAMMOND – A Southeastern Louisiana University student at the Southeastern Channel
has won first place in the nation for news videography.
Dylan Domangue of Houma won a first-place national Mark of Excellence Award in
the “Broadcast News Videography” category given by the Society of Professional Journalists
in its annual national competition. Domangue’s winning entry, “Mayors Salary Debate,”
was produced for the Southeastern Channel’s award-winning student newscast, “Northshore
News.”
Domangue also won second place in the “Broadcast Sports Videography” competition
for his “Southeastern vs. Northwestern State Football” game report for the channel’s
award-winning student sportscast, “The Big Game.” It was the second year in a row
that the SPJ has honored Domangue with second place in the country for sports videography.
“Just to be nominated amongst the best in the nation and then to win first place
is almost surreal,” Domangue said. “There are so many people who were nominated for
this award, so being recognized as the best in the entire nation is truly a special
honor.”
“It’s an awesome accomplishment for Dylan to be recognized as the very best out
of all college broadcasting students in the entire nation by such a prestigious national
journalism organization as the Society of Professional Journalists,” said Southeastern
Channel General Manager Rick Settoon. “The fact that he’s placed in the top two in
the country two years running is doubly impressive.”
Also winning second-place national Mark of Excellence honors were John Sartori
and Kaylee Normand, both of Mandeville, in “Best All-Around Television News Magazine”
for the Channel program, “Southeastern Times.”
The Southeastern Channel has now won five national Mark of Excellence awards
in the last two years. In addition to honors for Domangue, Sartori and Normand, student
Amanda Kitch of Covington won a second-place 2018 national SPJ award in “Broadcast
Feature Videography” for her “Northshore News” story, “Mosquito Control.”
“We’re so proud of John and Kaylee along with Dylan for these top national honors,”
Settoon said. “They’re all blessed with incredible natural talent, but they’ve also
worked very hard to develop these stellar skills resulting in well-deserved national
awards.”
The Mark of Excellence Awards honor the best of collegiate journalism from a
calendar year. SPJ industry professionals, who were directed to choose entries they
felt were the best in student journalism, judged the Mark of Excellence Awards. If
no entry met the level of excellence, no award was given.
National Mark of Excellence winners are chosen from category winners in each
of the SPJ’s 12 regions. Domangue, Sartori and Normand became eligible for the national
awards after placing first in their categories at the Region 12 Mark of Excellence
competition against students from all universities in Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas
and Tennessee. The Southeastern Channel led all universities in the region with nine
awards, including seven first-place awards.
Domangue’s “Northshore News” story covered the debate in St. Tammany Parish between
the Mandeville city council and outgoing mayor Donald Villere over the mayor’s salary.
“For a news story, it really requires the videographer to be creative,” Domangue
said. “Not only do you have to match the video with the audio, but you have to find
shots typically at the primary location of the story. News stories require more thought
when trying to find the right angle of what to shoot and how to shoot them. Since
the shots in my story were all filmed from the same location, there were limited shot
opportunities, but it is because of my creativity and my experience that I was able
to find the right angles to make my story look better.”
Domangue has previously won multiple national and regional awards for his reporting,
anchoring and producing from prestigious organizations such as the Suncoast Emmys,
Associated Press College Broadcasters, Broadcast Education Association (BEA), College
Broadcasters, Inc., College Sports Media Awards, and the Southeast Journalism Conference.
“With all of his national and regional awards for on-camera reporting, it’s truly
exciting to see that Dylan is now recognized as the best in the nation for his videography
and camera work as well,” Settoon added. “It shows that he’s applied his training
at the Southeastern Channel to become an all-around TV journalist with multiple skills.
We emphasize that all aspiring reporters learn how to be proficient not only in their
journalistic skills, but also in the technical areas of camera work and video editing
since it’s necessary in the marketplace to be an all-around journalist.”
Domangue’s sports story featured videography of the 2019 Southeastern-Northwestern
State football game. Last year Domangue won second place in the country for his videography
of the Southeastern-LSU basketball game.
A May 2020 graduate of Southeastern, Domangue has been hired as a news reporter
and anchor for KALB-TV (NBC/CBS) Ch. 5 in Alexandria, La. While at the Southeastern
Channel, he not only reported, anchored, produced and directed for “Northshore News”
and “The Big Game,” but he also hosted the “Lion Tracks” coach’s show and provided
play-by-play announcing, color commentary, sideline reporting, producing and directing
for Southeastern sports game broadcasts that streamed live on ESPN-Plus. His “Big
Game” sportscasts and game broadcasts also won first in the nation in various awards
competitions.
“The Southeastern Channel is a great place to get repetition that is truly needed
to get better in this field,” Domangue said. “I had the honor to get so many opportunities
for better news and sports. Of course, for my first couple of stories my work was
raw and needed a lot of polishing, but everyone at the channel was supportive and
offered help, which made me better overall.”
Sartori and Normand co-anchored the winning “Southeastern Times” while contributing
three television feature stories apiece to the 30-minute episode.
Also a May 2020 graduate, Sartori has been hired as sports reporter-anchor for
KTAL-TV (NBC) Channel 6 in Shreveport, La. At the Southeastern Channel, he won additional
national honors for anchoring and reporting for “The Big Game” and for his play-by-play
announcing for live game broadcasts. He was honored by the National Academy of Television
Arts and Sciences with student Emmy Awards in the Suncoast Region two years running
in the “On-Camera Talent” category.
Normand, a December graduate, has been hired as a news reporter by KATC-TV (ABC)
Channel 3 in Lafayette. Normand won national and regional awards at the Southeastern
Channel not only for her news feature stories, but also for her reporting of hard
news stories and anchoring for “Northshore News.” She was honored earlier last year
by the SPJ as one of the top three in the nation for College Coronavirus Coverage
during the onset of the pandemic.
“I think the Southeastern Channel is such a great place for any aspiring television
production or communications major,” Normand said. “Not only is the environment diverse
on set, but the environment behind the scenes is as well. I have met so many talented
and interesting people working at the channel with the same major, but different dreams,
and they have all taught me things that I can use in my own career path as a news
reporter. I am so beyond thankful for everyone that I have met at the Southeastern
Channel and everything that I was able to soak in during my time there.”
In its 18 years of existence, the Southeastern Channel has won over 400 national,
international and regional awards, including 20 awards and 67 nominations from the
Emmys. The channel can be seen on Charter Spectrum 199 in Tangipahoa, St. Tammany,
Livingston and St. Helena parishes and on mounthermonTV.com for viewers in Washington Parish. The Southeastern Channel’s live 24/7 webcast and
video on-demand are available at www.thesoutheasternchannel.com. The Southeastern Channel can also be seen on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube
and is now available on Roku and AppleTV.
