Two Fordham students received prizes for broadcasting excellence from the New York State Associated Press Broadcasters Association.
Lawrence Sealy, a rising senior in Fordham College of Liberal Studies, won first place; and Katie Corrado, a rising senior in Fordham College at Rose Hill, received honorable mention in the AP’s annual news awards competition.
The contest spotlights professional and college television and radio stations in New York state for outstanding work.
Sealy and Corrado’s entries were created through BronxNet, a class taught by Beth Knobel, assistant professor of communication and media studies in the fall; Jonathan Sanders, visiting assistant professor of communication and media studies in the spring; and co-taught both semesters by Matthew Schottenfeld, audio visual production manager for Fordham University Libraries.
“I am truly thrilled by this news. It shows not only that our students are terrific reporters, but that our partnership with BronxNet is producing compelling and important journalism,” Knobel said.
Sealy’s entry was a profile on Mark Naison, Ph.D., professor of African and African-American studies at Fordham. A recent transfer from SUNY-New Paltz, Sealy said that Naison was an ideal subject to profile for television.
“He’s a white guy who’s in the head of the urban studies department, but he’s not apologetic about it. He’s just real and raw and in your face about it, and I just liked it,” Sealy said. “That really stood out to me.”
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| Lawrence Sealy Contributed Photo |
This summer, Sealy is teaching film at Children’s Media Project in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. He also has worked with Fordham Nightly News as a correspondent, on the teleprompter, the switchboard and on sound.
“I would love to work for CNN in any capacity, maybe in producing. I’m a pretty good cameraman and a pretty good editor,” he said.
For her entry, Corrado profiled the Rosedale Center for Girls, because like many Fordham students, she had volunteered there. They do important work there, which made for good television, she said.
“You work with the same students over the course of the semester, and it becomes more than just helping them with their homework. It becomes making sure that they’re being good daughters and being respectful in class. They really try to nurture the whole child,” she said.
“In one activity, they taught the girls a little thing to figure out if you’re dressed modestly. They did a little dance, and it was nice to see on film how the girls interacted with each other. It’s something that you just can’t capture in print—to see the connection between the girl and her Fordham tutor.”
Corrado likewise worked with Fordham Nightly News, as an anchor, entertainment reporter and this year, as production manager. That, and the lessons she took away from the class, helped her land an internship this summer in the public affairs department of WNYW, New York’s Fox affiliate.
“The class taught me the best techniques for shooting interviews, for shooting stand ups, what’s interesting for television, what’s going to come off as mundane or boring,” she said.
“It taught me interview techniques, and how to write for television, which is something that I had an understanding of having worked for Fordham Nightly News, but being able to hear it from Professor Knobel was a really great experience.”
When she graduates, Corrado, a 2011-12 Walsh scholarship award winner, said she hopes to stay in New York and work as a producer, writer or on-air talent in television.
“It’s an honor to be noted by the Associated Press because it really doesn’t get much better than that in terms of recognition,” she said.
