MediaFest22 is a national media convention held by the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) and College Media Association (CMA) that offers dozens of educational sessions, helpful critiques from and the opportunity to interact with editors, journalists, and fellow media students as well as exciting award celebrations.  

The first Pinnacle Award was an honorable mention in the Best Campus Engagement category for “Taboo Talk”--a live event designed to promote the special report “Your Body, Your Rights” that explored body autonomy. The event was produced by the Arrow staff in collaboration with students in MC429 Media Management, a course taught by Mike Simmons, professor in the Department of Mass Media. 

“I’m always proud of our students when they are recognized, and especially at the national level,” said Dr. Tamara Buck, chair and professor with the University’s Department of Mass Media. “The Campus Engagement category is a collaboration between our advertising and multimedia journalism students, and I love seeing what happens when we combine the strengths of those two programs in a single event.”    

The second Pinnacle Award was an honorable mention in the category for Best Video Entertainment Program for “From the Newsroom: Behind the Scenes,” a project produced by Arielle Adams, Miya Andrews and Dakayla Duckworth in MC421 Multimedia Storytelling. 

MC421, a capstone course led by Buck, is for multimedia journalism students who are nearly finished with their degree programs. The students are trained in enterprise reporting and made producers for Arrow shows who then work with Arrow editors to develop new content and programs. It was this collaboration that ultimately led them to secure a Pinnacle award.

“The three students on this team wanted to do something different than the standard news show, and they were able to innovate and develop a show concept that looks more like some of the shows we see on daytime television,” said Buck. 

The Arrow also competed in the Associated Collegiate Press Best of Show Awards where they placed 10th for Best Newspaper with 10,000 or less enrollment. In addition, Dr. Buck was an honoree in the Four-Year Newspaper Advisor category as she received a Distinguished Advisor Award for her service and role in college student media advising, an award bestowed by the CMA.       

This year the ACP and CMA added the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) as a sponsoring partner. As a result, students were provided more opportunities to network with professionals in their field.  

“Students were exposed to an even grander group of keynote speakers that included Woodward and Bernstein, Roland Martin, Bill Whitaker and John Quinones,” said Buck.  

Mediafest22, in combining three nationally recognized organizations, gave students an exciting chance to further their knowledge while gaining experience through hands-on involvement with industry professionals and leaders.   

“The collaboration increased the opportunities to engage and learn from and with professionals from media outlets across the nation,” said Buck. “Students attend workshops led by working professionals, interact with other student editors and gain inspiration and insight on production processes, recruitment practices, and content creation and are able to receive professional critiques on their work. All these things help our students gain confidence as media professionals and create peer networks they'll maintain after graduation.”