Southeastern Channel nominated for two Emmys
Contact: Tonya Lowentritt
Date: November 8, 2012
SOUTHEASTERN CHANNEL NOMINATED FOR EMMYS- The Southeastern Channel, Southeastern's Louisiana University's educational cable access channel, has been nominated for two Emmy awards. The nominations are for promotional spots for the university's "Strength, Endurance, Tradition" image campaign. From left are Rick Settoon, Southeastern Channel general manager, and Steve Zaffuto, operations manager and director of the spots.
HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University's educational access television has been nominated for two regional Emmy Awards.
Promotional spots for Southeastern Channel-produced "Strength, Endurance, Tradition" image campaign were nominated in both the "Commercial" and "Director-Post Production" categories. Channel operations manager Steve Zaffuto produced, directed, videotaped and edited the commercials.
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 Miami.
The Academy nominates those productions achieving excellence in television at the highest level. Nominees and winners are selected after rounds of judging against the Emmy standard of excellence, not against other productions.
The Southeastern Channel has won seven Emmys and received 31 Emmy nominations for both professional and student productions in its 10-year history and is the only college television station in Louisiana to have won the award.
"The Emmy is the top award that you can win in television; it's so difficult to get nominated that receiving a nomination is recognition that you're producing at the highest level of quality in the industry," said Rick Settoon, general manager of the Southeastern Channel. "Steve is a wonderfully talented and creative professional with a great work ethic, and his work on these university spots is very deserving of this top recognition."
The spots promote Southeastern academic areas such as physics, education, communications, nursing, digital arts and theater.
"The promos highlight student-faculty interaction and research projects, and they describe the richness of academic programs at Southeastern," Settoon said.
Elements of the commercials include faculty and student interviews, along with footage used in the recruiting video "Strength, Endurance, Tradition" produced by Settoon and Zaffuto.
"Some spots, such as the one promoting the nursing program, utilize footage from actual hands-on classroom situations," Zaffuto said. "When promoting artistic achievements, I thought it important to show material actually produced by the students themselves. The spot highlighting graphic design and animation and instruction includes clips from actual student projects, while another features portions of a monologue from the student-authored play, 'Parking Lot Babies.'"
The Southeastern Channel has won more than 150 national and international awards in the last ten years. It's been named "Best College Television Station in the South," and its student programs have been selected as among the top three in the nation.
The channel 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.southeastern.edu/tv with monthly viewers from 46 states and 47 countries.
