Levi Brandenburg
Contributing Writer
[email protected]
Two Murray State students entered and placed in the 2020-2021 Hearst Journalism Awards Program.
The program is a collection of 14 competitions for journalism undergraduate students. There are five writing, two photojournalism, one audio, two television and four multimedia competitions each year, having to consist of already broadcast materials.
Piper Cassetto, senior television production major, won fifth place and a $1,000 scholarship in the Hearst Media TV Features competition. She entered “Pony Up,” a two-part video series that follows the Murray State Racer Girls on their journey to the Fall 2020 OVC Tournament.
Hannah Bullard, senior journalism major, won sixth place in the Hearst Media Audio News and Features for her piece “‘We Want You To Feel Seen:’ A Clarksville company that sends princesses to parties adds more roles for Black actresses.”
Hannah Bullard won sixth place for her audio.
Cassetto said Kevin Qualls, associate professor of television production, helped her enter the entries into the competition.
“Dr. Kevin Qualls deserves all of the credit for my participation in the competition,” Cassetto said. “As my television production capstone professor, he oversaw the production of ‘Pony Up’ in the spring of 2020. Upon the project’s completion, Dr. Qualls believed it would be a solid candidate for the Hearst Media Award, and he entered it with my permission.”
Cassetto said the project’s creative process was “the adventure of a lifetime” with her following the Racer Girls’ mission to teach their team manager, Blaire Sullivan, how to dance.
“At the onset of production, Blaire was set to debut at the OVC Tournament, and team captains Sydney Beaupré and Kaelyn Spowart had just three weeks to make her performance-ready,” Cassetto said. “The biggest challenge rested in the inherent uncertainty of it all. Since the events and the series filming occurred simultaneously, no one knew how the story would unfold. As a result, the success of the project depended entirely upon the documentation of every single late-night practice session, backside-busting missed kip-up, Ford Center courtside huddle and moments in between. I owe the Racer Girls a huge debt of gratitude for allowing me to be along for the ride.”
In addition to winning the $1000 scholarship, the journalism and mass communications department on campus will receive a matching award.
Bullard said she represented a piece of work she published in Assistant Professor Leigh Wright’s senior capstone class. Bullard said she and Wright picked a piece of hers that was published and aired on Nashville’s NPR station 90.3.
Bullard said she went to the princess camp to record interviews and ambient sound. The entire project took about 3 weeks to complete for WKMS and WPLN.
“The topic of this piece just felt so pure,” Bullard said. “It was refreshing. There were so many negative articles coming out all last year. I mean, I would write articles over the Beshear presses almost every week night, and the headlines would sometimes just be numbers of COVID-19 cases rising and deaths. And of course with the murder of George Floyd and the protests, I wanted to present a piece that showcased some change that the protests accomplished, even in a small way.”
Bullard said the award gave her some much needed affirmation as she applies for jobs and enters her career after graduation.
Visit TheNews.org to listen to Bullard’s “‘We Want You To Feel Seen:’ A Clarksville company that sends princesses to parties adds more roles for Black actresses” and to watch Cassetto’s “Pony Up,” episode.
