Two people of a three-member class group project received surprise phone calls last week saying they had won the Best of Festival award at the Broadcast Education Association national video competition.  Doug Griffey, Alyssa Walker and James McLendon produced a five-minute video for their journalism and electronic media 336 class as a video project.  Through the encouragement of their professor Bob Legg, Doug Griffey submitted their video to the BEA's student video competition without letting his group members know.  

This is the first UT group to win an award from the BEA competition.  Their video opens with a black screen and their team name: "Green Skittles."  The narrative consists of a girl moving into a new apartment complex and dealing with noisy neighbors.  Walker, who plays the main female character in the video, flirts with her noisy neighbor without realizing he was the cause of all her grief.  The girl in the video ends up blowing off the neighbor upon discovery of his address.  Walker describes the plot as a very common and relatable topic.  "Who hasn't had to deal with noisy neighbors?" Griffey asks rhetorically. 

However, it is because of their cinematography prowess that won them Best of Festival award.  All three expressed shock over their winning because the festival has a 4 to 6 percent acceptance rate.  It's the most exciting news I have had all semester. James McLendon   Their video will be aired during the BEA conference and part of it will be on the BEA's official Web site.

"I got the score sheet back and a lot of our high score has to do with the reviewer wanting to see more of the story and our general level of production, lighting and sound," said Griffey. 

Both Griffey and McLendon are seniors in journalism and electronic media and plan to take advantage of the job fair that is part of the BEA conference.  "I'm going to feel around with my resume at the conference, but I have one more year left [of my education]," Walker, junior in journalism and electronic media, said. 

Their winnings include $1,000 dollars, Avid Software, free admission to the BEA's conference and a plaque.  They plan to split the money between the three to help pay for their plane tickets to Las Vegas where the annual BEA's conference is held.

Griffey and McLendon plan to move out to California over the summer and try to break into the movie industry while Walker finishes her last year at UT.