From left, nominee Matt Wilken, Dan Haushaltar, Johannes Pardi, Basil Sharp, nominee Brian Puninske and Matthew Zacharias.
BY RICH REZLER
Communications Manager
Four Washtenaw Community College Digital Media Arts students took home top honors at the 39th annual Michigan Regional Student Production Awards ceremony held in April 2017.
The awards are presented by the Michigan Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
A total of 11 WCC students were nominated in 10 categories. The winners included:
Helica Durron won the Arts and Entertainment/Cultural Affairs category for “Seven Mile Music.”
Basil Sharp won the Short Form Fiction category for “Down.”
Johannes Pardi won the Short Form Non-Fiction category for “Benton Harbor.”
Dan Haushalter won in the Commercial category for “Fab Foods.”
This was the sixth consecutive year WCC students have returned to campus with production awards in-hand, bringing the grand total of wins for the college and its students to 19.
The four trophies earned in 2017 matches the haul in 2015. Students won a program-best five awards in 2014.
“When you look at the schools that WCC is competing against, it really speaks to the knowledge and support our faculty provides to our students,” said WCC Vice President of Instruction Dr. Kimberly Hurns.
“Because of our hands-on nature and skill development that takes place here, our students not only build a portfolio while in our program, but also learn using the latest equipment.
Following the latest round of awards, Digital Media Arts faculty member Matthew Zacharias expressed his pride for students in the program.
“All of them worked—and reworked—their projects to deliver two essentials of powerful media: engaging stories that are created in a unique style,” he said. “All of our nominees and winners had that going for them.”