The Capital Region of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced on Sept. 22 that four WUVA alumni won the 2020-2021 Student Production Awards, also known as student Emmys, for their documentaries.
Kyra Min and Cabell Eggleston won for Spring Broken, College on COVID, while Heather Thomas and Amelia Delphos won for Black at UVa. Thomas also narrated for Spring Broken.
Min and Eggleston’s 40-minute documentary captures the various effects felt by college students who were abruptly sent home over spring break in 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The documentary won the student Emmy for Long Form Non-Fiction.
“It was draining but incredibly rewarding,” said Eggleston, citing late nights editing drafts of the documentary and difficulties coordinating with the class due to varying degrees of access to editing software and reliable internet.
“Everyone was facing new challenges and stresses while being pushed to finish out the semester strong,” said Min. “I definitely saw COVID as a story of a lifetime but also saw this split class as an opportunity to put our resources and strengths together to benefit the class as a whole.”
The documentary ultimately included many aspects of life during COVID for college students, from athletes, the job market, to the wider Charlottesville community.
“Producing Spring Broken definitely pushed me to new limits and I learned a lot about managing projects, creating a cohesive story, and hitting deadlines – all of which are skills that have helped me in the long run.”
– Kyra Min, Producer on Spring Broken
Thomas and Delphos secured another Emmy for Long Form Non-Fiction with their 25-minute documentary Black at UVa. Their film considers how race and identity play a role in the experiences of Black students and staff at a predominantly white institution like UVA.
@chiefheath99 @snazzykyraaa @cowbellcable and I all won the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Student Production Award in Non-Fiction Long Form tonight… wow. We won the student equivalent of an Emmy. pic.twitter.com/EJKw5m7dz3
— Amelia Delphos (@ameliagrace0) September 22, 2021
The four UVA graduates honed their skills both as WUVA producers and as students of Wyatt Andrews, Professor of Practice at UVA’s Media Studies department.
“Our students earned these awards with extremely hard work and attention to details,” said the professor, who served as faculty advisor on both projects. “Video reporting at this level is difficult under normal circumstances, but they pulled it off during a pandemic, and did it accurately and creatively.”
Both documentaries were published on the WUVA News platform. Prof. Andrews, a WUVA alumnus himself, attributed his students’ skills to the organization.
“WUVA deserves a share of these wins. All of the award winners learned strong video and news skills at WUVA before taking Media Studies reporting classes, proving the role WUVA plays as a training ground for future Wahoo journalists,” he said.
