Pictured from left: Connor Gannon, Assistant Professor Douglas Flanagan and Adam Svereika at the New York State Broadcasters Associated Press Awards on Saturday, June 1 in Saratoga Springs, NY.
(Herkimer NY – June 12, 2013) Students enrolled in the Radio-Television Broadcasting program at Herkimer County Community College were recently awarded two “Special Mention” awards at the New York State Broadcasters Associated Press Awards. The presentations were made at the annual awards banquet held on Saturday, June 1 in Saratoga Springs, New York.
“HCTV 99 News” won special recognition from the Associated Press for “best news story” and “best regularly scheduled newscast” in the college competition segment of the awards. This marks the first time that Herkimer’s Radio-Television Broadcasting program has submitted entries into the AP contest. The college newscast is a production of one of the Advanced Video Production courses offered in the program. Assistant Professor Douglas Flanagan says that the entry “grew out of the student coverage of the recent shootings in Mohawk and Herkimer. We concentrated on the standoff and also on the way that the incident affected the college campus. With a campus wide lockdown, the students in the class concentrated on how the campus and the community were being affected by the ongoing crisis.”
Students who worked directly on the shooting story include Marc Barraco (Richfield Springs), who took video footage and served as the on camera reporter. Barraco also assisted in editing the final piece. David Glantz (Rome) and Adam Svereika (Hannibal) were involved in getting footage during the standoff. Jaclyn Milillo (Wading River) was the producer of the newscast that week. “This was a real world example of breaking news coverage, and the entire crew did a fantastic job under pressure. That kind of news experience, while a result of a tragic local event, is nonetheless a situation that is simply impossible to recreate in a typical classroom environment. They did a great job under the circumstances, and it is very gratifying that the Associated Press took the opportunity to recognize their hard work,” said Flanagan.
Herkimer County Community College was the only community college represented at the awards. The AP awards contest draws entries from around the state, mostly from professional news operations in traditional broadcast television, radio, cable, and web based outlets.
“HCTV 99 News” began in 2003 at Herkimer County Community College as a live 15 minute newscast. It has since grown to a full 30 minute show, produced each week by advanced video production students. Additional 15 minute live newscasts now supplement the original thirty minute show, produced by students enrolled in various media degree programs.
The feature story that generated the award submission can be found on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=-chyXnbp5_M.