October 21, 2016
River Region Evening Edition wins statewide honors
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Students who work on the live student television newscasts at Southern Illinois University Carbondale recently captured statewide honors.
WSIU’s River Region Evening Edition received three Illinois Broadcasters Association Silver Dome Awards in Bloomington on Oct. 14 during the annual IBA-University event. Students were judged with other student newscasts in the state. The awards are for work from 2015 to present.
The newscast received a Silver Dome Award for Best Long Form TV Program with “Saluki SportsView.” Students or graduated students involved with the winning Saluki Sportsview entry were Sean Conway, Joey Dalo, Gabe Pishghadamian, Tia Rinehart, Zach Thomas, Danny Valle, and Anthony Wilder.
Jordan Taylor earned an individual award for “Best Weathercast,” and Dalo and Thomas received individual awards for third place for “Best TV Sports Package.”
“The awards are a huge honor for the students whose work was compared with other students across the state,” said Greg Todd, news director and instructor in the Department of Radio, Television and Digital Media.
Students produce more than two hours of television newscasts that air on WSIU-TV channel 8/16. Newscasts air at 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday when school is in session during the fall and spring semesters. Communications students have been producing and broadcasting newscasts on WSIU-TV since 1966, and the program “has helped launch the careers of some of the best in the business,” Todd said.
“These achievements also recognize the success of the partnership between WSIU Public Broadcasting, the Department of Radio, Television, and Digital Media, and SIU,” Todd said. “It has resulted in a program that provides a quality education combined with hands-on experience for communications students.”