The honors, bestowed by the same group that awards the Emmys, are for a news show that airs on Fox 13 on Saturdays.
By DONNA WINCHESTER
Published June 1, 2003
ST. PETERSBURG - Seven high school students have won recognition from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for outstanding work in video production.
The students, all graduating seniors at Lakewood High School, won four of 42 National Student Excellence Awards from the organization that bestows the annual Emmy awards.
Devan Wilber, Mary Hill, Ryan Baker, Jamie Weber, Erik Born, Thomas Vermeer and John Bambace are among 90 participants in the school's Center for Advanced Technologies' Communications and Original Multimedia studios, an extracurricular activity that expands on what students do in the classroom. They won the awards for their work on Fox Thirteen Magazine, a student-produced news magazine show that airs at 11:30 a.m. on Saturdays on Fox 13.
The academy is providing the students with an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., where they will receive their awards at a luncheon on June 8.
Wilber and Hill, both 18, won in the news category for outstanding achievement in a regularly scheduled presentation of timely news, information and current events for a segment they produced on teenage pregnancy.
Baker, 17, won in the arts and entertainment/documentary category for a two-minute news package he created about "duck boat" amphibious vehicle tours. Weber won a script-writing award for a segment on teenage communication. Born, Vermeer and Bambace won a technical achievement award for their compilation of a graphics montage.
Much of the CATCOM students' work is a collaborative effort, Bambace said.
"We talk about what looks cool. If it wasn't a group thing, it wouldn't be as good."
This was the first year the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences sponsored the student competition, said Robert A. Behrens, president of the academy's Suncoast Chapter.
"A new president came into office a little more than a year ago," Behrens said. "One of his initiatives is to do more with education. One of the first things he decided to do was develop a series of awards for high school students who are studying video."
A panel of television industry professionals and media teachers chose the CATCOM students' entries from hundreds that were submitted nationwide. CATCOM director Mark Granning was pleased but not surprised at his students' success.
"We're the only 100-percent student-produced show in the nation," he said. "Most kids are just talking heads. They don't do the technical parts. We do everything."
The awards capped off a year that began on a difficult note for Granning, who received a directive from his doctor last fall to reduce his 65-hour work week. Unwilling to give up his regular load in the multimedia program, the 47-year-old teacher decided to cut back on some of his CATCOM activities.
He decreased the number of shows his students produced for Fox 13 from 20 to 16. He continued to oversee their work on Fast Forward, a daily 15-minute morning news show broadcast throughout the school, and on Rewind, an end-of-the-year wrap-up similar to a video yearbook, but he dropped their coverage of the school prom.
In the end, Granning admits, he still put in a lot of hours.
"The kids just all wanted to do it so badly," he said. "They're so pumped and so excited. It's hard to tell them no."
