Taylor Receives Eight Wins from Regional Emmy Organization

A record eight Taylor University projects from the Film and Media Production program have won Student Production Awards from the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences, Lower Great Lakes Chapter.

In the Non-Fiction, Short Form category, Wild Winds: Spirit of the Bison was the winning entry. The documentary tells the story of a buffalo preserve in northeastern Indiana.

Winning in the Arts & Entertainment/Cultural Affairs category was student documentary The Jewel of Richmond about an historic Indiana church.

In the Sports Story category, MTXE: Mental Toughness Xtra Effort tied for the win. MTXE features two outstanding high school wrestlers from Indianapolis.

In the Spot Announcement category, Taylor project Heart of Marion (later renamed The Call to Serve Marion) was the winner. This promotional video seeks to recruit police and firefighters in the city of Marion, Indiana.

The regional Emmy organization also nominated individuals in “craft categories” for their outstanding achievements. Jake Vriezelaar, a 2020 Taylor graduate took top honors in the Directing craft category. Vriezelaar and Tim Hudson, a 2021 Taylor graduate, shared the craft category win for Photography. Vriezelaar was recognized for work on the film Nora, and Hudson won for his work on the documentary MTXE. Mitchell Wheeler, a 2021 Taylor graduate, was the winner in the Editing craft category for his work on Heart of Marion.

Productions were judged by panels of professionals working in television and video production and tallied on a point system. These eight wins represent half of the sixteen awards given to student winners during the regional Student Production Awards event.