POINT LOOKOUT, MO. — The College of the Ozarks mass communication department recently celebrated two students who won awards in videography from the Missouri Broadcast Educators Association and the Fault Line Film Festival.
First Place for Video/Short Film “Ghostin” from The Missouri Broadcast Educators Association.
- Verve Reposar, sophomore video production major, from Walnut Shade, Missouri
“Ghostin” – Two lonely girls infiltrate a woman’s home in an attempt to relive their past lives.
First Place for Best Mystery/Suspense Film “Invisible” from the Fault Line Film Festival.
- Paige Steelman, junior video production major, from Springfield, Missouri
“Invisible” – A girl is convinced that she has become invisible and attempts to find answers with a mysterious counselor.
Curt Wilkinson, professor of communication arts, expressed pride over his students’ work during the past year.
“The majority of our video projects are produced specifically for the C of O community, so it’s very meaningful to see these two women recognized for their excellent work,” Wilkinson said. “These awards confirm something we’ve known for some time — our students are gifted digital storytellers.”
Although it was a challenging year due to COVID-19, Wilkinson says that video played a critical role during the pandemic. The mass communication department participated in hundreds of projects this past year, including COVID re-entry messages from President Jerry C. Davis and vice presidents, streamed convocations and conferences, virtual homecoming, virtual graduations, and academic ceremonies.
“We’ve had our heads down producing videos every week for the last year. I’m proud of our video production students for their effort to keep C of O connected despite the requirements of social distancing,” Wilkinson said.
More about the Missouri Broadcast Educators Association
The MBEA Awards were created to showcase individual accomplishments and group projects from Missouri college students. The MBEA supports broadcast educators and encourages and coordinates educational and instructional activities to benefit broadcast education in Missouri. (https://mbea.us/)
More about the Fault Line Film Festival
The Fault Line Film Festival at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau is an annual narrative short film competition for university and high school students throughout the Midwest. The festival offers cash prizes and trophies in several categories, as well as a $1000 grand prize to the Best of Festival recipient. (https://semo.edu/faultline/)
The festival was held virtually this year through YouTube. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMui27DsYBY