SBU-TV Nominated for National Award

SBU-TV Sports is a finalist for a 2011 College Sports Media Award for its coverage of St. Bonaventure’s heart-stopping win over Duquesne Feb. 5 at the Reilly Center.

The Bonnies defeated the Dukes, then 8-0 in conference play, when Michael Davenport hit a three-pointer with 1.6 seconds to play.

SBU-TV is one of five finalists in the Live Game and Event Category in the College Athletics Division. The students are up against game productions from Purdue (men’s basketball), New Mexico State (softball), Mississippi (baseball) and Rochester Institute of Technology (men’s hockey).

The winners will be announced June 7 at the College Sports Video Summit in Atlanta.

Paul Wieland, instructor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, teaches a credit-bearing production class out of the remote broadcast facility, located outside the Reilly Center. Live broadcasts of men’s and women’s basketball home games are part of the curriculum. The games are streamed live over the Web via the university’s CBS All-Access package.

“This recognition is really a reward for all the hard work these kids have put in since the production trailer was hooked up two years ago,” Wieland said. “I’ve said it before, but I’ll put the quality of these broadcasts right up there with a lot of what is produced professionally.”

The dramatic end to the Bonnies’ win over Duquesne thrust sideline reporter Shannon Shepherd into the spotlight.

“Usually, you have to wait until the coach is done with his radio show, and the arena is empty by then,” Wieland said. “But Shannon grabbed coach (Mark Schmidt) in the middle of the chaos just after the buzzer and got a great interview.”

The crew for the production was Christy Andrzejewski (producer); Paul Wieland (director); Mike Colaianni, Mike Vitron, Rick Foit, Matt Lee, Christian Seabaugh, Kelley Burke, and Leah Murphy (cameras); Dave Kolkowski, Conor Mooney, Johnny Heard and Fred Alvarez (replays); Scott Shelters and Terry Lepetich (audio); Joe Paciorkowski (video); Kevin Clark (technical director); Jake Sonner and Tony Jones (Chyron graphics); Jocelyn Williams (stage manager); Sarah Marciniak (timeout coordinator); Jeremy Noeson (play-by-play); John Watson Jr. (color); and Shannon Shepherd (sideline reporter).

The total number of submissions nearly doubled from the inaugural awards in 2009. The quantity and quality of the entries called for an additional level of distinction.

“We had a record number of entries this year and we saw the quality of production rise to a very high level, creating a fierce competition,” said Tom Buffolano, conference chair of the College Sports Video Summit.

“After tabulating the voting done by our expert panel of judges, we found that there were many worthy entries that, although not nominated, still deserved to be recognized for outstanding achievement. They are receiving an honorable mention. We felt that it was important to recognize the high quality of production outside of the short list of nominees.”

Photo courtesy of St. Bonaventure University
The submissions and nominees are split across three divisions: College Athletic, College Academic, and Professional. Each division has three categories: Live Game and Event, Outstanding Promotional Video or Campaign, and Special Feature.