Annual Accolades: 2020-21 In Review

Little about the 2020–21 academic year could be considered normal. Some students returned to campus while others logged into class from around the world. Courses and programs were reinvented to adapt to this hybrid environment. Yet, in the midst of all of that, one thing remained constant: COM students and faculty continued to produce award-winning work. Here are many of the honors they received during the past academic year.

Student Awards

National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences—Boston/New England Chapter Student Production Awards

BUTV10, Boston University’s student-run television network, won four categories: Newscast, Public Affairs/Community Service, Live Sports Event and Sports Program. It also received four honorable mention awards. 

Telly Awards

BUTV10 received a bronze Telly for The Vote 2020, the station’s coverage of the 2020 election. 

COM Blue Chip Awards

Nineteen COM seniors received the college’s highest undergraduate student honor, recognizing their leadership in school and in the community. 

Film & Television: Nicole Adamski Barradas (’21), Bruce Rahsaan Dennis (’21), Katie Gallagher (’21), Sage Holloway (’21), Malaika Moyer (’21)

Journalism: Isabel Contreras (’21), Maggie Leone (’21), Haley Lerner (’21), Shaun Robinson (’21)

Mass Communication, Advertising and Public Relations: Tal Bodner (’21), Will Burnett (’21), Remy Frohman (’21), Solange Hackshaw (’21), Danielle Iuliani (’21), Kate Kzhemanovska (’21), Alexis Gray Mills (’21), Lindsey Rosenblatt (’21), Hannah Schweitzer (’21), Meredith Varner (’21)

COM Leadership Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Awards

For the first time, COM honored students for their efforts in promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in academic, professional and community settings. Four students were selected by COM’s DEI Committee: Aisha Sheikh (CGS’19, COM’21), Archelle Thelemaque (’21), Tori Murry (’21), Olayinka Saray (’21)

Edward R. Murrow Awards: RTDNA Regional Murrow Awards

BU students contributed to two investigations that received regional Edward R. Murrow Awards. Students taught by Jennifer McKim, a clinical instructor of investigative journalism, assisted her with original reporting in a story about Massachusetts prisoners with mental illnesses and the state’s parole system, which won the Investigative Reporting category. And the GBH News Center for Investigative Reporting collaborated with COM staff and data science students at BU Spark! to study racial inequities in Massachusetts’ spending by analyzing state contracts. That project won the Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion award.

Boston Press Photographers Association College Contest

BU student photographers collected 18 of the 34 awards given across six categories at the Boston Press Photographers Association’s annual award contest. Receiving awards were:

• Lauryn Allen (’21): 1st, 2nd and two honorable mentions in the News category; 1st, 3rd and honorable mention in the Feature category; 2nd and 3rd in the Portrait category; 1st, 3rd and honorable mention in the Story category
• Caitlin Fauld (’21): Honorable mention in News
• Campbell Zachara (’21): 2nd in Feature
• Grace Ferguson (’22): Honorable mention in Sports
• Robert Branning (’21): Honorable mention in Sports
• Mohan Ge (’22): Honorable mention in Portrait
• Anran Xie (’21): Honorable mention in the Video/Multimedia category

Redstone Film Festival

For the second year in a row, the Redstone Film Festival was held online. The big winner at the 41st annual event was the surfing documentary Waiting for Waves, which won three awards.

First Place

Waiting for Waves, directed by Jacob Zaoutis (’21) and produced by Zoe Dewitt (’21) and Zaoutis

Second Place

The Way You Smile, directed by Bricen X (’21) and produced by O’Neil Henry (’21) and Alison Wright (’21)

Third Place

From Sophia with Love, directed and produced by Jacob Zaoutis (’21) and Dilara Avgen (’21)

Best Screenplay

FUN-eral, written by Meredith Brown (’20)

Best Cinematographer

Waiting for Waves, Felix Phillips (’21), director of photography

Best Editing

Tie: FUN-eral, edited by Jonny Arruda (’20), and From Sophia with Love, edited by Jacob Zaoutis (’21)

Best Sound Design

The Way You Smile, O’Neil Henry (’21), sound designer 

Audience Award

Waiting for Waves

Alumni Short

My First Session, directed, edited and animated by Wendy Cong Zhao (CFA’11, COM’11)

Fleder Rosenberg Short Screenplay Contest

• First Place: Mei-Ying, written by Nicole Shuhan Shen (’23)
• Second Place: Gyopo, written by Timothy Choi (’22)
• Third Place: Redbud, written by Taylor Coffey (’22)

The Film and Television Studies Award for Innovative Scholarship

• Dana Alston (’21), “‘I’m Not Crazy’: The History and Development of the American Gaslight Film”
• Peter Johnson (Questrom’15, COM’15,’21), “ABC and Wall Street: The Financialization of Television from Broadcast to Streaming”
• Chi-Tsung Chang (’21), “Hollywood and the Myth of Meritocracy”

PRWeek Awards

“F*ck It Won’t Cut It,” the student-created COVID-19 safety campaign, placed second in the Community Relations category. It was the only student campaign among 135 nominees. 

Hatch Awards

COM students received 49 awards at the annual Hatch Awards, a regional award show honoring the New England creative marketing and branding community.

All Show Next Generation Award:

• Kylee Hegarty (’20), copywriter

Gold:

• Kylee Hegarty and Sarah Perkins (CFA’20) for Expose the Gap
• Seiji Wakabayashi (’20), art director and filmmaker
• Shan He (’20) and Xiuqi Cai (’20) for National Alliance to End Homelessness
• Shubhangi Verma (’21) and Ruby Yang (’21) for The Dating App that Got Deleted

Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Awards

Students from BU, Arizona State University, Stanford University, University of Arkansas, University of Florida and University of Oregon—working together through the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism—received the Collaborative Journalism Award for their work on “Nowhere to Go,” a series about the impacts of homelessness in the United States. Maggie Mulvihill of COM’s journalism faculty helped direct the BU team.

Faculty Awards

COM Faculty Awards

Gary Sheffer, the Sandra A. Frazier Professor of Public Relations, received the Becker Family Teacher of the Year Award, the highest honor the college gives to its faculty. 

Doug Gould, a professor of the practice in advertising, received the Lyndon Baines Johnson Student Advising Award after being nominated by his students. 

The Telly Awards

Local, USA, hosted by Tina Martin, an associate professor of the practice in journalism, on WORLD Channel, received silver in the General–Television category for the episode “Pandemic in Seattle.”

International Communication Association: Frederick Williams Prize

James Katz, the Feld Professor of Emerging Media, received the 2021 Frederick Williams Prize, which recognizes a scholar for their career contributions and achievements in advancing the study of communication and technology. 

Get Konnected: Most Impactful Black Women in Boston

Michelle Johnson, an associate professor of the practice in journalism, was named one of Boston’s most impactful Black women by Get Konnected, a local organization that promotes cross-cultural networking and opportunities for women and people of color. 

BU Learn from Anywhere Creativity & Spirit Awards

Deborah Jaramillo, associate professor and director of the Film and Television Studies Program, was a recipient of a Faculty Coach award in recognition of the help she provided to other faculty members preparing for BU’s remote and hybrid Learn from Anywhere teaching models.