A film produced by Montclair State University classmates, including a Lower Cape May Regional High School alumna, took first place in the news category in the Television Academy Foundation’s 44th College Television Awards.
Aylin Alvarez Santiago was a director, producer and writer for a segment of the 30-minute production, called “Arizona Stories: Border, Water & Politics,” while attending Montclair State. She and her classmates traveled to Arizona to work on the project as part of an “On the Road: Reporting From the Field” class for Montclair News Lab.
The film also received the Seymour Bricker Humanitarian Award. Presenters described the film as “a moving piece that showed steady grit, a clear voice and an unwavering commitment to telling the stories of the people in the state.” The award recognizes student work for excellence and social impact.
The program aired in May 2024 on Montclair’s Local Access Channel 34 and covered six topics in Arizona, including immigration, homelessness, Native American culture, drought and the environmental impact of millions of visitors on the Grand Canyon. Santiago, who graduated from Montclair State last May, helped produce a segment on what it takes to become a cowboy.
Winners in the competition were announced by celebrity presenters at the red carpet awards ceremony April 5 at the Television Academy’s North Hollywood campus.
Twenty-two student-produced programs were nominated, selected from 232 entries from 50 colleges and universities nationwide. Entries are judged by Television Academy members, emulating the Emmy Awards selection process.
Three projects were nominated in each of the seven categories. Criteria for the College Television Awards reflect industry standards of excellence, imagination and innovation. Each winning project received a $3,000 cash prize and trophy. The Humanitarian Award came with a separate $4,000 award.
“It was so amazing,” Santiago said April 6 from California. “I never expected the event to be so exciting. It’s a once in a lifetime experience for the 14 others and I who came out for the awards. It was good seeing each other again as well, because we became an extremely close and tight-knit group.”
The winners arrived April 2 and then spent the remainder of the week in workshops, networking with industry representatives and other nominees and visiting places related to their film interests. During the evening April 3, they watched three-minute segments of each of the nominees’ films.
“It was a difficult and tough competition,” Santiago said. “It was really great getting to meet the other nominees and seeing their stories.”
The Montclair State-produced film triumphed over a production by students from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who produced “Deadly Shooting on Campus: The Facts. The Failures. The Future,” and a production by University of Miami students called “NewsVision.”
Each of the Montclair State students received individual trophies, and Santiago said they are considering giving the school the money they won to fund scholarships.
“Receiving the Humanitarian Award was so amazing,” she said. “We felt that we had been heard, and that we were empowered.”
Santiago, who grew up in Lower Township, said the awards “ignited a fire” in her, and she is looking forward to “showcasing different voices” in documentary films moving forward.
Contact the reporter, Karen Knight, at kknight@cmcherald.com.
