Senior earns broadcast honor

The same foundation that honors the prime time Emmys recently doled out a prestigious award to a University student.

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation awarded Kristi Keck, a senior journalism and mass communication major, first place in the Newscast category of its 27th Annual College TV Awards for her production work on a "Carolina Week" news broadcast.

She was flown to Los Angeles courtesy of the foundation for a March 19 ceremony announcing the winners. She also attended the March 20 College Television Awards Festival, where her work was showcased.

"It feels great," she said. "This is kind of like our national championship."

Winners were decided by a panel of judges assembled by the foundation.

Nancy Robinson, manager of educational programs and services for the foundation, said every judge was a member of the television academy and was picked specifically for the categories they would be most qualified to judge.

Robinson said the criteria for judging the newscast category included directing, editing, writing, on-air relationships, originality of stories and overall production value.

In the category in which Keck won, there were no second or third place winners - Robinson said the judges didn't feel anything else was worthy of award status.

Winners were selected from a field of 420 entries from 39 different colleges and universities nationwide.

"Carolina Week," the Journalism school's biweekly live news broadcast, aims to cover community news.

Keck's Oct. 19 award-winning show included coverage of the improving health conditions at the North Carolina State Fair, a profile of a victim of domestic violence and an in-depth profile of the Hillsborough-based Maple View Farms in a changing economy.

This is not the first time that "Carolina Week" has been honored by the foundation - the last two years, a "Carolina Week" broadcast has won second place honors in the Newscast category.

It's also not the first victory for Keck - it was her production last year that took second place.

"Technically the award has my name on it, but it's not like I did this all by myself - all the producers were helping me," she said. "We have been working hard, and it paid off."

First place winners received $2,000 in prize money, which goes to the recipient's school, and $2,000 in Eastman Kodak film stock.

Keck said that the most rewarding part of the experience for her was having people recognize and understand how much work goes into a live production.

"You can't cut; you can't take two when it's live - a good show is the product of a lot of people working hard," she said.

"It takes the whole crew on point the whole time to get that perfect show that wins the Emmy."

Contact the A&E Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.