Tiger Media Network
Students in Fort Hays State University’s Department of Informatics are no stranger to holding their own against students from larger universities in the country.
This year’s awards won by students in the Digital Media Production and Journalism program back up that point. Continued enrollment growth in the concentration has yielded even more national and state honors.
For the second straight year, a Tiger Media Network live sports production was named a winner in the Heartland Chapter Student Production Awards of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The Heartland Region consists of colleges from Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma and Nebraska.
“Once again, FHSU's live sports program proves it is one of the best in the country,” said Russell Heitmann, news and sports director of TMN. “Our students do excellent work, and to be recognized with this honor is a testament to them and their abilities.”
This year’s winning entry in the Live Sporting Event/Game category came from the FHSU men’s basketball game against Washburn. Students who teamed up for the broadcast included Kadence Allen, director; Cooper Rhea, director; Nick McCoy, replay; Mikheil Makhviladze, camera; Valeria Catano, camera; Kyson Evans, camera; Levelt Similien, camera; Nathan Ward, camera; Tyler Murphy, camera; Garrett Wellbrock, announcer; and Cayden Sanders, announcer.
But it wasn’t the only prestigious Heartland Region honor FHSU won this year. The university had two other winners.
The TMN summer internship documentary project, “Life on the Harvest Run,” was the winner in the Non-Fiction Long Form category. The film was produced by Raegan Neufeld, Ryan Schuckman and John Billinger. Neufeld’s documentary from her Advanced Video class, “For Love of the Game,” was also a nominee in the category.
Schuckman’s documentary “Garden of Eden” was a winner in the Arts/Entertainment/Cultural Affairs category. That film was also part of Stephen Schleicher’s Advanced Video class.
“When you have a great group of students, working with some of the latest technology in the industry, and faculty who bring their decades of real-world experience to the classroom, great things are going to happen,” Schleicher said. “And right now, great things are happening at Fort Hays State University.”
Garrett Wellbrock was also a nominee in the category for Talent-News or Sports in the Heartland Region contest.
In the Broadcast Educators Association annual competition, Schuckman’s documentary was second place in the Micro-Documentary category. Alicia Feyerherm’s “From Sewer to Sprinkler” documentary earned an Awards of Excellence in the division.
The “Life on the Harvest Run” documentary also was named as an Awards of Excellence in the Short-Form Documentary of BEA.
BEA contests are not separated by enrollment size or NCAA classifications. Strong showings this year by FHSU students allowed the university to be ranked 13th in the Top Winning Documentary Programs, beating schools such as Michigan State, UConn, Alabama, BYU and Miami.
FHSU was the top-ranked school from Kansas.
Fort Hays tied for 31st in the Top Winning News Programs and the Top Winning Sports Programs categories. FHSU was tied for 48th in Top Winning Overall Programs — the best of any Kansas university.
“When students are equipped with practical experience, tools, resources and outstanding instruction and mentorship, they don’t just learn. They become skilled creators that demonstrate what they can do because of how they learned,” said Melissa Hunsicker Walburn, dean of the Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship at FHSU. “This powerful combination fosters creativity and positions them to compete with confidence and excellence on both regional and national stages, and eventually the market”
DMPJ students also won five first-place honors at the Kansas Association of Broadcasters contest, as well as two second place finishes and one honorable mention.
Feyerherm’s documentary won in the Public Affairs/Talk Show Program category at the College Visual division, while “Life on the Harvest Run” took top honors in the College Visual Documentary category.
Eli Blankinship and Wellbrock swept the top two spots at KAB in Sports Play-by-Play in both the College Audio and College Visual categories. Blankinship took first in both, with Wellbrock finishing second.
Tiger Media Network won first place for website in the College Audio category and was honorable mention in the College Visual division.
In the Society of Professional Journalists Region 7 Mark of Excellence Awards, TMN’s Rory Moore was a finalist in three categories: Arts/Graphics/ Multimedia, Sports Photography and Regional Political Reporting. Region 7 of SPJ is made up of colleges from Kansas, Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska.
“It’s always great to see our students get the accolades they deserve for their hard work, especially when competing against some much larger schools in the U.S.,” said Nick Schwien, director of Tiger Media Network. “Our students think big and don’t limit themselves. Whether as an individual or a team member, they work hard to stand out from the crowd. It’s a trait that makes them success while at FHSU and after graduation as well.”