Communication students win top honors

Two student research projects have been recognized for excellence by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Details...

The first project, “Reality Television Goes Interactive: The Big Brother Television Audience,” has won “Top Student Paper” in the Entertainment Studies Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Students studied the emergent Internet and Television audience. An estimated 9% of television viewers with Internet access are simultaneously watching TV and browsing the web.

The following students participated in the study:

  • Tiffany Avery
  • Lisa McChristian
  • Claire Carney
  • Zack Picard
  • Mike Scali
  • Shelby Shackleford
  • Mikaela Frasier

They will travel to Washington, D.C. to present the paper at AEJMC’s national conference in the session, “A Showcase in Excellence: The Entertainment Studies Interest Group’s Top Faculty and Student Papers.” Competition was stiff with over 40 entries from excellent programs of study including Syracuse, Emerson and the University of Washington. The second place paper was from the University of Iowa.

The research project was a cooperative effort with a communications senior seminar class at Georgia College & State University. Students used web-crossing to collaborate with Georgia students and analyze the collected data.

Another Communications major, Tiffany Avery, combined her study abroad experience to Denmark with student research. Her paper, “A Comparative Study of the Use of People of Color in Advertising: the United States v. Denmark,” was also accepted for presentation in an open competition between faculty and students.

Both student projects were mentored by Dr. Connie Book.