Southeastern Louisiana University

Southeastern Channel nominated for six Emmys

Contact: Christina Chapple

11/7/07

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CHANNEL NOMINATED FOR SIX EMMY AWARDS -- The Southeastern Channel, Southeastern Louisiana University's educational cable access channel, recently earned six regional Emmy Award nominations from the Suncoast Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Shown, from left, front, are Steve Zaffuto, nominated for "Tomorrow's Leaders" and "Native Sounds" promos and for postproduction directing; Southeastern Channel General Manager Rick Settoon; back, Josh Kapusinski, nominated for the "Community Vision" promo and for a composite of graphics and animation; and entertainer Roberts Batson, nominated for his on-camera work for the Fanfare 2006 presentation "Amazing Place, this New Orleans." 

     Promotional spots for Southeastern’s “Tomorrow’s Leaders” image campaign were nominated in the “Commercial” category while “Community Vision,” a promo about regional forums airing on the Southeastern Channel, was nominated in the “Promotion/Program/Single Spot” category. 

     Channel Operations Manager Steve Zaffuto was nominated in the “Director-Post-Production” category for “Tomorrow’s Leaders” as well as for his graphics and animation work on “Native Sounds,” a regional blues music program.

     Videographer Josh Kapusinski was nominated for a composite of his show opens and promos in the “Graphic Arts: Animation” category. Kapusinski won an Emmy last year for his promotional spot for the channel’s “Florida Parish Chronicles” series.

     Roberts Batson, the entertaining presenter of the one-man show, “Amazing Place, This New Orleans,” won a nomination in the “On-Camera Talent: Narrator/Speaker” category. The show was presented as part of the 2006 season of Fanfare, Southeastern’s October arts celebration.

     The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences made the nominations from entries submitted by television stations and production companies in the Suncoast Region, which includes Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Puerto Rico. The winners will be announced Dec. 1 in Orlando.

     The Southeastern Channel, which has won an Emmy two years in a row, was the only university channel nominated in the Suncoast Region. Other Louisiana stations nominated were WWL-TV of New Orleans and LPB of Baton Rouge with one each.

     The Southeastern Channel has collected 14 Emmy nominations in the past three years. In addition to Kapusinski’s 2006 Emmy, the channel won a regional Emmy in 2005 for the student program, “For the Love of the Game,” a documentary short about former Southeastern baseball coach John Stephenson. The Emmy was the first and only won by a university television station in Louisiana history.

     “The Emmy is the top award you can win in television, and once again we’re very pleased that our small, but extremely talented and hard-working staff has been recognized for consistently producing at the highest level of quality in the industry,” said Rick Settoon, general manager of the Southeastern Channel.  “Steve, Josh and Roberts are all wonderfully talented, creative and professional in work ethic and standard. They’re very deserving of this top recognition.”

     Zaffuto produced, directed and edited “Tomorrow’s Leaders,” a Southeastern image campaign that highlights faculty-undergraduate student interaction on research projects such as the West Nile Virus, robotics, and use of the finance lab’s Bloomberg Machine.

     “An Emmy is one of the truly difficult awards to obtain in the television industry,” said Zaffuto, the channel’s operations manager. “A nomination validates the hard work and effort that we invest in our productions on a daily basis.”

     Kapusinski’s “Community Vision” promo captures buzzwords and phrases from public officials who have appeared on past forums and mixes them with text and graphics in a fluid series of phrases.

     “The framing of the subjects change sporadically to give an edgy, contemporary feel,” Kapusinski said. “The different elements provide the viewer with a lot of interesting visuals to look at and contribute to the overall effectiveness of the spot.”

     Batson, an actor, author and well-known New Orleans tour guide, was nominated for his on-camera performance in his popular one-man show, “Amazing Place, This New Orleans,” performed last year at the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum.

     The two-hour program was videotaped and edited by Southeastern Channel staff member Claude Levet.

     “It’s quite an honor to be nominated for an Emmy -- and a total surprise,” Batson said. “’Amazing Place’ has played over 250 performances since it opened in 2002 at the True Brew Theatre in New Orleans, but the show had never been taped until it was presented by Fanfare. When Rick Settoon asked to televise it on the Southeastern Channel, I was happy to oblige. And I thought that was the end of the matter.”

     The Southeastern Channel, which has won more than 40 national and international awards in the last three years, can be seen on Charter Cable Channel 18 in Tangipahoa, St. Tammany and Livingston parishes and on Channel 17 in Washington Parish. It can also be viewed online at www.selu.edu/tv.