April 29, 2010

Communication Studies Students Win Impressive Array of Awards in 2009-2010.

Communication Studies majors won an impressive collection of awards in various competitions during the 2009-2010 academic year.

Kevin Jeanes, a senior from Naperville, was awarded third place for Best Weathercaster in the Broadcast Education Association’s 2010 Media Festival of the Arts. It’s the third year in a row Jeanes has received the award as the third-best student weathercaster in the nation. Jeanes is a broadcast meteorology minor at EIU and does regular weathercasts on WEIU-TV "News Watch". It’s the sixth year in a row an Eastern student has received a national award in the BEA competition.

Several Communication Studies majors were honored during the Spring of 2010 for their television and radio production work in statewide contests:

  • Phil Norton (senior from Charleston) received second place in the Buckle Buddy Radio Public Service Announcement contest.
  • Claire Dennis (senior from Champaign) received third place in the Buckle Buddy Radio Public Service Announcement contest.
  • Katherine Rufener (senior from Mattoon) received first place for Outstanding TV News Reporting from the Illinois News Broadcasters Association.
  • Emily Mieure (senior from Lawrenceville) received third place for Outstanding TV Sports Reporting from the Illinois News Broadcasters Association.
  • Kevin Ratermann (senior from Mulberry Grove) received third place for Outstanding Videography from the Illinois News Broadcasters Association.
  • Avery Drake (senior from Charleston) received first place for Outstanding Sports Program from the Illinois News Broadcasters Association.
  • WEIU-TV "News Watch" received first place for Outstanding Newscast from the Illinois News Broadcasters Association.

WEIU-TV’s student-produced local newscast has won another major award. The Society of Professional Journalists awarded WEIU-TV "News Watch" its Mark of Excellence Award for best all around TV newscast in Region 5, which covers colleges and universities in Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky. First place regional winners are entered in the organization’s national contest. National winners will be announced later this year. WEIU-TV "News Watch" is staffed by numerous broadcasting students from the Department of Communication Studies.

Communication Studies graduate student Kendra (Baker) McClure was honored for outstanding debut student paper at the 2010 Central States Communication Association convention in Cincinnati. Her paper was titled "Miracle or Myth? A qualitative study of the communication strategies used to promote and oppose clean coal technology" and focused on the proposed FutureGen project in Mattoon.

EIU Communication Studies alumnus Chris Goble (B.A. ’95, M.A. ’96) was selected to attend the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation Faculty Seminar in November 2009. Goble has been an instructor in the Communications Department at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Ill., since 2004. The seminar gave college faculty members a behind-the-scenes look at how the television industry operates.