Some moments in life are worth celebrating and this certainly was one of them!

Over the past five years JU has earned a stellar reputation consistently winning awards in the student broadcasting division. This year, with Catinka Sjoberg’s documentary style video, A Change of Heart, I knew we had something special. Catinka and I took a chance and entered the professional category. We knew the competition would be tough, but we also knew this project was tremendous.

Catinka found out several weeks before the big event that she was a finalist. Her mom caught one of the last flights out of Sweden (remember the Icelandic volcano that stopped all air travel) and met us in Orlando for the big event. And then we waited, what seemed to be forever. The program began and it took at least three hours before we found out she had won first place in the entire state of Florida. Our little program at JU beat out professional broadcast stations throughout the state in the medium size market category.

Following the event, Catinka received a lot of press. An article was published in the Times-Union, WJXT-TV (where Catinka interned) aired a clip of the program and featured her live on the 6pm news. The hospital featured the program at one of their board meetings,the Mayor of Jacksonville sent Catinka a beautiful letter, and JU featured the program on the webpage. Yes, it was a night to celebrate. To view the program or the tailer, here’s the link ####

Each semester, my students produce

Getting the first broadcast of the semester under way is often a challenge. This semester was no different. We returned to find our lab without functional electrical outlets, leaving us without the power needed to run our computers and digital editing. Seems some construction over the summer, could have been the culprit. I’m happy to report, the problem has been solved, and we are up and running, full power and ready for a great semester. You may see some new faces throughout the semester, as the Beginning Broadcasting class (COMM 217) is larger than ever before and brimming with promising student journalists. -Dr. Kent-Willette