Cronkite Graduate Honored at Emmy Awards

A recent graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication was honored for best student production in the Emmy Awards given by the Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Kellen Dengler won for “The Forgotten Population,” a video about the homeless population of Tempe. Dengler and three other Cronkite students, Michael Barcia, Brian Martin and Danielle Hurtado, produced the video for instructor Glen Stephens’ television production class. They were assigned to seek out a local non-profit agency in the Valley and create a video for the agency. The students worked with HomeBase Youth Services of Phoenix to illustrate the plight of homeless youth. Dengler, of Fort Collins, Colo, who wrote and produced the video, said he and his teammates “put a ton of effort” into the project. Hurtado directed the video, Barcia edited it and Martin was the cinematographer. “We all helped each other and all focused on each other’s strengths to make it what it was,” Dengler said in an e-mail interview. “Our production team couldn’t have been any better.” Dengler is now working as a videographer and editor for several production houses in the Valley and doing freelance work. Stephens, the students’ instructor, said it was the first time any of his students have ever won the Emmy’s student production plaque. He said the work was “very emotional, very artistically done and technically excellent.” The video also placed third for Best Student Production in the 2007 Seguin Film and Arts Festival and received Official Selection Honors at the 2007 New York International Independent Film and Video Festival. In addition, Cronkite NewsWatch, the school’s student-produced newscast, was nominated for best student production in the Emmy Awards. The 30-minute newscast featuring student work is aired three times a week across much of Arizona via Cox Cable. NewsWatch students named in the nomination were Susan Ansman, Ruth Bartlett, Briana Buxbaum, Noelle Caldwell, Evan Doherty, Hailey Frances, Cemile Gokmen, Amanda Goodman, Lauren Haire, Sade Malloy, Sara Miles, Holly Morgan, Teal Norman, Molly O’Brien, Noelle Paul, Sarah Ralston, Marissa Shaw, Jason Snavely, Zack Strier and Brandon Wong. NewsWatch is directed by Mark Lodato, who worked as a television reporter and anchor for stations across the country prior to coming to the Cronkite School in 2006. Lodato also was nominated for an Emmy for work he did in 2006 while an investigative reporter at KPHO-TV in Phoenix. The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences hosts and sponsors the Emmy Awards for news and documentary, technology and engineering, community service, sports, business and financial reporting as well as other categories.