Furman wins big at NATAS Student Production Awards

Each year, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the same organization behind the Daytime and Primetime Emmy Awards, holds a competition for students involved in media production. A cadre of Furman University communication studies students competed in NATAS’s Southeast Student Production Awards and brought home four wins across 12 nominations.

At the March ceremony held in Atlanta, Furman students against peers from nearly a dozen colleges and universities in the region, including large research universities, liberal arts universities, design schools and media arts-focused schools.

Lindsay Capps ’25 won a NATAS Student Production Award for her multimedia project.

“This is one of the highest awards in the nation students can win for multimedia production,” said Mac McArthur, professor and chair of the Department of Communication Studies at Furman. “This is our most robust set of honorees to date.”

Since 2021, the first year Furman participated in the competition, Furman students have notched a total of 10 Student Production Awards.

The winners recognized at this year’s Southeast NATAS Student Production Awards are:

• Lindsay Capps ’25, multimedia journalist, for her collected body of work
• Gabriella Williams ’24, non-fiction short form, “The Silent Echo”
  

  Gabriella Williams ’24 won a NATAS Student Production Award for “The Silent Echo.”

• Cam Hamer ’24, sports program, “Live and Learn Episode 2 – Perseverance”
• Hannah Tyler ’26, photographer, for her work on a public service announcement for Black Mountain, North Carolina

Students who received nominations at the Southeast NATAS Student Production Awards are:

• Lindsay Capps ’25, Ella Grogan ’25, Alyssa Hildenbrandt ’25 and Elijah Poritzky ’25, newscast, “The Knightly News Episode 9”
• Ava Shutze ’24, news report – light news, “Food Cultivates a Community of Cultures”
• Lindsay Capps ’25, news report – light news, “Marilyn Warner’s Dance Dreams”
• Elijah Poritzky ’25, non-fiction long form, “Saving Sam”
• Kaylie Armitage ’25, sports story or segment, “Beyond the Finish Line – Artem Shmidt Chasing World Tour”
• Gabriella Williams ’24, public service announcement, “Blaze the Bombasin”
• Grace Houser ’24, photographer, for her work on “Home on the Ranch”
• Ella Grogan ’25, talent news or sports, for her collected body of work

Hannah Tyler ’26 won a NATAS Student Production Award for her PSA.

Students produced the entries as part of their coursework in digital storytelling, advanced multimedia storytelling, or broadcasting – classes offered in Furman’s Digital Storytelling Studio and Media Lab and taught by Selena Dickey, assistant professor of communication studies; Julia Morris, WYFF News 4 sports anchor and adjunct professor of communication studies; and Mary Sturgill, media specialist and instructor.

“It’s such a joy to see these students develop as storytellers throughout the semester, and then to see their good work recognized by industry experts shows the level of creativity and quality storytelling they have achieved,” Sturgill said.

“Our students’ success in these competitions demonstrates that The Furman Advantage creates opportunities for undergraduates to harness their creative capacity, critical thinking and technical production skills in the context of our rigorous liberal arts education,” McArthur added.