Students add national awards to résumé

By Emily Landgraf

Two national awards and five honorable mentions were carried away by students involved in the Rider University Network (RUN) at the National Broadcasting Society Conference in Dallas, which took place March 10-14.

Video technologies coordinator Scott Alboum was present when the students received the awards.

“For me personally, it’s always just a real pleasure that we win these awards,” Alboum said. “It’s really a great thing, because it shows that despite the fact that we’re a small school, we can compete against bigger schools and win.”

One of the larger schools  was the University of Miami, which took home many of the conference’s awards, according to junior Nicole Lawrence, national vice president of student services for the Rider chapter of the National Broadcasting Society.

Senior David Thomas and junior Gina Grosso took first place for their movie trailer for Children of Terror, a documentary they are working on about two Holocaust survivors, one a Polish Catholic and the other a German Jew.

Thomas also took first place in the Open Video Category for his Rensselaerville documentary pitch, a project he is currently working on about his hometown.

“I was actually really satisfied,” Thomas said. “To work on not only one, but two winning [projects], I felt proud of my work.”

Grosso was also thrilled about the win for the trailer she and Thomas collaborated on for Children of Terror.

“It was really exciting,” she said. “It’s for a film we’ve worked really hard on since the summer.”

According to Thomas, the two awards that he won were “equally satisfying.”

“It was good to win with someone else, and it was nice to win on my own,” he said.

Thomas is hoping the awards will capture the attention of future employers.

“The one that I won by myself, it led into a project I am currently working on, which is a documentary about my home,” he said. “I’m putting my best work into this so I have something to show future employers.”

Grosso is also hoping to entice future employers with the awards on her résumé.

“This entire industry is a giant competition,” she said. “Knowing you can produce something at that level gives you the confidence you need to keep going.”

Thomas hopes to finish the documentary about his hometown sometime before he graduates in May and is planning to enter the film in other festivals and competitions.

According to Thomas, everyone who worked on the various projects did a wonderful job.

“We had a good group of people who were in it,” Thomas said. “While we only won two awards, I think we had a good showing.”

Grosso agreed.

“We got to travel all over, and we had a great group of kids,” she said. “It was a tremendous experience.”

Lawrence was also at the conference and received an honorable mention along with freshman Kevin Rafferty for The News at Rider.

Lawrence said that Rider’s program was entered as a magazine show.

“We did 10 shows last semester and a best-of show at the end of the semester, so, we spent most of our time during the week doing this,” she said.

Lawrence was proud of her accomplishment, as well as the students who won awards.

“Gina is my best friend, so to see her and Dave’s documentary trailer win first prize was a great thing,” she said.

Lawrence also emphasized that the National Broadcasting Society is not just for television and film production.

“NBS isn’t just for TV, it’s for radio too, and there’s Web site design competitions,” she said. “The radio people aren’t so involved in this, and I’d like them to be. People involved with Web design can enter too.”

Alboum stressed that this was only one contest, and that he encourages the students to enter others. However, he believes that this recognition will give the students more confidence in their work and encourage them to keep going.

“Their best work is still far in front of them,” he said.