NoHo Arts District, Calif. (May 24, 2017) – Some of television's brightest stars gathered tonight with tomorrow's stars as the Television Academy Foundation announced the winners of its 38th College Television Awards at the Saban Media Center.
Entries for the College Television Awards, which mirror the Emmy Awards selection process, were submitted by students from U.S. colleges and universities, and judged by active Television Academy members. Judging criteria reflects industry standards of quality, imagination and innovation across categories including comedy, drama, newscast, and unscripted series.
Anthony Anderson, star of ABC's black-ish, hosted the event which saw four new categories added to the competition this year for writing and directing in a drama and comedy. The winning pieces echo television's capacity for addressing difficult topics and breaking down racial, social and cultural barriers, by exploring a wide range of themes. The 74 student nominees attending the annual competition represented a broad range of nationalities, hailing not just from the U.S., but from Austria, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Hong Kong, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Zambia. The ceremony was streamed live on Facebook and is available for VOD viewing at televisionacademy.com/CTA.
"The College Television Awards is one of our Foundation's preeminent events because it spotlights the next generation of television talent," said Madeline Di Nonno, Chair of the Television Academy Foundation. "With the support of the Television Academy, our donors and sponsors, we are building a pipeline of talented individuals that are diverse, inclusive and relevant to current and future audiences."
This year's winners were announced and presented by top television stars including This is Us's Mandy Moore, Chelsea's Chelsea Handler, The Handmaid's Tale's Samira Wiley, American Crime's Richard Cabral, Grey's Anatomy's Jason George, Daytime Divas' Tichina Arnold, Bill Nye Saves the World's Bill Nye, Entertainment Tonight's Kevin Frazier, How to Get Away with Murder's Benito Martinez, and Dear White People's Logan Browning and Antoinette Robertson.
The College Television Awards honored work in 17 categories. This year's winners in each category were:
Animation: The Wishgranter, Kaloyan Athannassov, John McDonald, Echo Wu, Ringling College of Art and Design
Children's Program: A Taylor Story, Rebecca Prolman, Camille Houphouet-Boigny, Chapman University
Comedy: Dollar King, Trevor Smith, American Film Institute Conservatory
Writing-Comedy: Dollar King, D. M. Brent, American Film Institute
Individual Achievement in Newscast: Head Games, Erika Orstad, University of Miami
Commercial: The Aussie Bean 30 Second Spot, Noah Rashba, Chapman University
Drama: Viola, Franca, Marta Savina, UCLA School of Theater Film and Television
Directing-Drama: ERNIE, Hadley Hillel, Chapman University
Writing-Drama: LOCKDOWN, Daisygreen Stenhouse, American Film Institute
Music Composition: Parchment Wings, Benjamin Hoff, University of North Carolina School of the Arts
Newscast: WUFT News First at Five: September 2nd, 2016, Daniela Hurtado, Ryan Roberts, University of Florida
Series-Scripted: The Buzz, Shasta Ford, Matt Nickley, Savannah College of Art and Design
Series-Unscripted: Learn to Count in an Endangered Language, Eli LaBan, Temple University
Variety: Routes TV-Oklahoma: The Natural Disaster State, Trevor Slack, University of Oklahoma
Several other special awards were presented:
The Bricker Humanitarian Award, a $4,000 cash award given to a College Television Award winner whose work best highlights a humanitarian concern, was presented to Marta Savina for Viola, Franca, UCLA School of Theater Film and Television. This award was created two decades ago by the family of Attorney Seymour Bricker in honor of his commitment to philanthropy.
The Loreen Arbus Focus on Disability Scholarship presented $10,000 to Ying Lu from New York University for her work titled Slow Angels. The award celebrates student storytellers whose work sheds light on people with disabilities and is underwritten by the Loreen Arbus Foundation.
The Mister Rogers Memorial Scholarship presented $5,000 each to Estefania de la Chica Serrano of Columbia University and Kevin Matthew Wong of New York University. The scholarship, presented to graduate students pursuing careers in children's media and perpetuating the defining values of Fred Rogers' work, is funded by EY, a global leader in professional services to media and entertainment companies.
In addition to today's awards ceremony and gala, College Television Awards nominees took part Tuesday in the Television Summit, a day-long seminar hosted by the Television Academy Foundation to provide the students an opportunity to learn from and network with top industry executives. This year's summit introduced students to notable professionals including keynote speaker Jay Roewe, Senior Vice President, West Coast Production for HBO, Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, Co-Executive Producers, This Is Us, Our Lady J, Writer/Producer, Transparent, Ron McCants, Writer, Speechless, and Corey Nickerson, Co-Executive Producer/Writer, black-ish, who joined them for panels, round table discussions and one-on-one mentoring.
The 38th College Television Awards was made possible by philanthropists and corporate partners throughout the entertainment industry and beyond, including PEOPLE®, the Loreen Arbus Foundation, philanthropist John Bendheim, MTVU, HBO, Disney|ABC Television Group, EY, The Princeton Review®, Chambers Family Foundation, Yob Family Foundation, FilmLA, and Audi®. Flights were provided by United Airlines® for non-Los Angeles based students to attend the Summit and Awards.
Additional details on the awards and winners can be found at TelevisionAcademy.com/Foundation.
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About the Television Academy Foundation
Established in 1959 as the charitable arm of the Television Academy, the Television Academy Foundation is dedicated to preserving the legacy of television while educating and inspiring those who will shape its future. Through renowned educational and outreach programs such as the The Interviews: An Oral History Project of the Television Academy Foundation, College Television Awards and Student Internship Program, the foundation seeks to widen the circle of voices our industry represents and to create more opportunity for television to reflect all of society.
Download the press release here.
For more information, please contact:
Jane Sparango
breakwhitelight for the Television Academy Foundation
jane@breakwhitelight.com
310-339-1214
