CHS students win national arts awards
This week there was some very exciting news for Calhoun High School video production students, both past and present, from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Southeast Emmys regional chapter.
Four CHS students won their category for the student production awards presented by the Southeast Emmys, and three other CHS students were finalists in their video category. Students were nominated for this video production award competition by CHS video production instructor, Mr. Bill Long, and then their individual works were scored and ranked by NATAS members, some of the same members that choose Emmy awards that are awarded yearly for national and local television and broadcast excellence.
This program awards nominees in both high school and college categories. Because the 2020 awards were canceled due to COVID 19, student productions from the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years were eligible to be nominated for these awards, making it a doubly challenging field to be either a finalist or an award winner.
“I am so very proud of the efforts and excellence shown by these remarkable students through their work in our video production program at Calhoun High School. Their work is certainly exceptional, and it is a testimony to their commitment to excellence in producing engaging, educational, and entertaining videos for our communities within CHS, Calhoun City Schools and greater Calhoun/Gordon County. They are all inspirational to me as their teacher, and certainly an inspiration to young video production students in our program.”
Since this year’s 2021 student production awards were virtual awards, winners did not get to give the normal acceptance speech that goes along with the honor of being awarded, so each winner sent a speech to Mr. Long to share with their awarded video.
2020 CHS graduate Maci Parker won Best Music Video for her “Dream Any Dream” video that was the highlight of CHS Graduation 2020!
Maci said, “To begin, I would like to say it is an honor to have been awarded the student Emmy for Best Music Video in the southeast region. My first thanks is to the academy for selecting my video. Secondly, thank you to my instructor Bill Long for the allotted time and resources given to me both during and after my time at Calhoun High School. Thank you also to my parents for supporting me unconditionally and for gifting me my first “real camera” when I was thirteen, creating the foundation for my interest in videography. My final acknowledgment goes to the Calhoun High School class of 2020. An abundance of thanks for allowing me to record every moment and being with me during the experience of a lifetime.”
2021 CHS graduate Felipe Barrios was also a nominee/ finalist in the Best Music Video category for his video “Put Your Hands Up/Can’t Hold Us”!
2021 CHS graduates Andrew Barber and Thomas Pena won Best Public Service/Community Service Video for their “COVID 19 Awareness at Calhoun” video that appeared on Episode 5 of Calhoun+.
Andrew stated, “I am grateful to have been recognized for our work in putting this together. Spreading awareness about Covid-19 was very important to me and this gave me the chance to discuss it. One of the greatest parts of my high school career was being a part of
the video production crew. I created a lot of fond memories and developed a lot of skills along with making a lot of friendships.”
From Thomas, “I want to thank everyone involved as this was truly a great experience to film and bring awareness to the matter at hand. I most especially want to thank Mr. Long for allowing me the opportunity to partake in developing this awareness video.”
2021 CHS graduate Jolie Jackson was a nominee/finalist in the Animation/Graphics/Special Effects category for her work creating all the fantastic motion graphics for all 15 episodes of Calhoun+!
Current CHS juniors Caroline Alexander and Kaycee Doan were nominees/finalists for the category of Arts and Entertainment/Cultural Affairs for their video documentary of the CHS One Act drama production “Freaky Friday — A One Act Play Documentary.”
And finally, 2021 CHS graduate Mary Grace Osborne was the honoree chosen by Mr. Long to represent Calhoun+ in the category of Magazine Program. Mary Grace and Khushi Patel had many episodes of “Smithisms”
and “Whatever This Show Is” that were anchor programs for Calhoun+ productions, and fan favorites all year long. By receiving this honor, Calhoun+ was recognized as the Best Magazine High School Program in the southeast region by the Southeast Emmys.
Mary Grace said, “First and foremost, I thank the Lord Jesus Christ for all the strength He has given me to achieve this prestigious goal. May all glory be to Him. I also thank Felipe Barrios, Alex Orozco, and most importantly Coach Long for nominating me for this award
and always giving me the tools, inspiration, and assistance that allowed me to create the best content possible. However, none of this content that made this achievement possible would have existed without the contribution of Khushi B. Patel whose positive attitude and amazing work ethic made our content excellent. Finally, I would like to thank the Calhoun City Schools as well as the City of Calhoun for teaching me the value and importance of being an individual and staying true to myself in the face of adversity.”