The School of Communications live-event production organization, which partners with Elon Athletics, was recognized in the contest’s Outstanding Live Game Production (Collegiate Student) category.
Maroon Sports, the School of Communications student organization that partners with Elon Athletics to broadcast sporting events, is a finalist in the contest’s Outstanding Live Game Production (Collegiate Student) category. The live-production unit was recognized for its Jan. 20 men’s basketball game broadcast. Other finalists in this category include Alabama, Auburn, Michigan State, Northern Arizona and Texas A&M.
Members of the production team included:
- Michelle Manzo (Producer)
- Lauren Duncan ’18 (Director)
- Logan Bealke ’19 (Technical Director)
- Landon Kestlinger ’19 (Replay Operator)
- Peter Fortunato ’21 (Graphics Operator)
- Elizabeth Bilka ’18 (Camera 1)
- Mason Pratt ’20 (Camera 2)
- Thomas Hale ’18 (Camera 3)
- Jonathan Robichaud ’20 (Camera 4)
- Matt Krause ’16 (Play-by-Play)
- Matt Holzapfel ’19 (Color Analyst)
“The schools we are competing with are producing games largely in association with FOX Sports, ESPN or Big Ten Network. This is elite company to be in, and shows the caliber of work our students are producing.” said Michelle Manzo, Maroon Sports coordinating producer.
Additionally, the team of students that works with the Elon football program was named a finalist in three separate categories:
- Outstanding Program Series (Collegiate Student) for “The SPARK”
- Outstanding Special Feature (Collegiate Student) for “The SPARK 1.4”
- Outstanding Promotion, PSA, Tease, or Marketing Campaign (Collegiate Student) for Elon Football Stadium Intro
“The SPARK” is a multi-episode video series highlighting the Elon football team’s 2017 season. Students that worked on these productions included Serena Archer ’19, Ian Kunsey ’19, Dmitri Thompson ’18, Jared Mayerson ’20 and Matt Simmons ’19. They were supervised by Joe Loosemore, football video/graphics coordinator.
Other finalists in these competitive categories include perennial winners like Ball State, St. Cloud State and South Carolina, according to Manzo.
Winners will be selected by a panel of judges and announced at the annual College Sports Media Awards ceremony on June 1 at the SVG College Summit in Atlanta. The ceremony will be hosted by NCAA.com and Big Ten Network’s Andy Katz.
“These awards truly demonstrate the best production work in collegiate athletics, and I’m extremely proud to see Elon so well represented,” Manzo said. “The competition is fierce, and to be a finalist in every category we submitted in is an accomplishment in and of itself.”
Phoenix All-Access, Elon’s student organization for Department of Athletics live video production, was also a finalist in the 2017 College Sports Media Awards competition.