While on summer vacation, cast and crew of MCN 87’s “Hey You, MU” received an Award of Excellence in the student production category of the 2015 Videographer Awards Competition.

The award was for Season 6, Show 3. This episode featured “Hey You, MU’s” regular segments including “The Zone,” “Zest,” and “Reel Talk.”

The competition was judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP), a third party evaluator of creative work by marketing and communication professionals.

The Videographer Award of Excellence is awarded to those entries whose ability to capture the event or communicate the message is exceptional. The Award of Distinction is presented for projects that exceed industry standards, while Honorable Mention is awarded to projects that uphold industry standards.

There were about 1,300 entries from throughout the United States, Canada and several other countries in the 2015 competition. Entrants included audio, video, and film production companies; advertising agencies; PR firms; corporate and government communication departments; and independent creative professionals such as producers, directors, editors, and shooters as well as colleges and universities.

“I honestly can’t tell you how amazing it feels to receive this award. There were so many people who worked hard last semester on the show–practicum students, crew members, faculty, station management–and this award just shows that our hard work was recognized,” said MCN 87 Station Manager and senior communications major Taryn Talacka.

The cast and crew of MCN 87 are all university students.

The award submission deadline was towards the end of the spring semester, leading assistant communications professor Dan Kimbrough to send in the entries without the station staff knowing.

“Most awards are due late spring early summer, and I like to wait until the end when we have a lot of work and it’s our best work,” said Kimbrough.

While the MCN 87 station staff was worrying about finals or packing to go home, Kimbrough got to work selecting what to send to be judged.

“Dan Kimbrough was the one who submitted the show for an award–without me knowing,” said Talacka. “When he texted me over the summer to tell me Season 6 Show 3 had won the Award of Excellence, I was speechless.”

Talacka found out about the award from a text message from Kimbrough that read, “I’m just going to leave this here.” Attached to the message was a screen shot of the Videographer awards website that showed the list of winners. Seeing that MCN was on that list, she then went to work notifying the rest of the television station’s crew of the good news.

“The first thing I did was call my practicum students to tell them that the show won an award. I really want to point out that the station won this award, so everyone who helped with MCN 87 last semester won this,” said Talacka.

According to their website, the Videographer Awards is one of the oldest and most respected awards programs in the industry. Winners are selected each year and featured on the organization’s website.

“It just feels nice to win,” said Kimbrough.

Awards are merit-based and judged on the overall look of the piece and storytelling. Different levels of honor are awarded depending on the score each submission earns.

“You submit with the hope of winning,” said Kimbrough.

For MCN 87 this hope of winning awards has become a reality, winning 13 awards over the past six years.

When the committee announced their results, a graduate of the communications department also emerged a winner.

Brittany Lovette, alumna of the class of 2014, received a 2015 Videographer award. Lovette won an Honorable Mention for the 2014 “Student Media @ Misericodia” sizzle reel, which is available on the communications page on the university’s website.

“Entries are judged off the year they were produced and due to the April cut-off, the sizzle reel was still able to be submitted,” said Kimbrough.

About 13% of the entries won the Award of Excellence, the organization’s top honor. About 14% of entires received Awards of Distinction. A list of Excellence and Distinction Winners can be found on the Videographer Awards website at www.videoawards.com.

Programming on MCN 87 can be found on campus television or online at https://vimeo.com/mucom.