The University of Toledo

UT:10 News, The University of Toledo’s weekly student-produced television news broadcast, and the show’s student producers won Best Newscast in the 2010 College Television Awards from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

This national award is given each year by the same organization responsible for television’s Emmy Awards.

Student producers from the 2009 academic year, Philipp Levering and Ashley Roth, traveled to Los Angeles with 2009 student director Heather Schramm and UT:10 News faculty adviser Jackie Layng to attend the awards gala April 10. The event was hosted by “Dancing With the Stars” emcee Tom Bergeron, and award presenters included cast members from FOX’s “Glee” and ABC’s “Modern Family.”

Layng, UT professor of communication, said placing first in this national competition against schools such as the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, New York University and Syracuse University shows how talented UT students are.

“This speaks volumes about the quality of our program,” she said. “In just six years we’ve been able to build a program that allows students to write, shoot, produce and direct a newscast that can compete with institutions that have had broadcast journalism programs for decades.”

Levering said he was shocked when UT:10 News was called as first place at the gala.

“Ashley and I both just jumped out of our chairs. It was all really, really surreal,” he said. “There were hundreds and hundreds of people and celebrities, and because we’re a brand new program, we didn’t expect to win. It was a shock.”

Roth said the award will do wonders for the reputation of broadcast journalism at UT.

“We’re the best college newscast in the country,” she said. “This is a huge deal.”

She attributes a lot of the success to the early and often hands-on experience the UT program offers.

“We start getting experience from day one,” she said. “We can hold the camera and create stories starting our freshman year. At some of these bigger, older programs, you can’t even touch a camera until you’re junior.”

The production won for its Oct. 13, 2009, episode. Watch this and all UT:10 News broadcasts at youtube.com/ut10news.

UT:10 News also placed first in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Region Four Mark of Excellence Awards for Best All-Around Television Newscast. The UT entry now will compete for a national Mark of Excellence Award in Las Vegas later this year.

Layng said she’s glad the students are getting such great recognition.

“I’m incredibly proud of them,” she said. “Putting on a TV newscast is a lot of work, and they do an excellent job at it. They deserve it.”

This entry was posted  on  Thursday, April 15th, 2010 at  11:32 am and is filed under  News, UToday.
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