NHS Students Nominated For Fox 61

And WB 20 Student News Awards

Eight Newtown High School students have been nominated for their submissions for the 2003 Fox 61 and WB 20 Student News Awards. The students will find out May 27 if their video packages will be honored.

More than 300 students, parents, and teachers are expected to attend the event at the Theater for Performing Arts in Hartford. Winning middle school students receive video production equipment for their schools and winning high school students receive scholarships for postsecondary education.

More than 250 Connecticut middle school and high school students participate in the program. Since September, more than 210 student-produced one-minute news stories have been submitted to Fox 61 WTIC-TV and Connecticut’s WB 20 WTXX-TV. The stories are broadcast during top-rated shows such as The Simpsons, and the Fox 61 News at Ten. The stories selected for broadcast were considered for the Award Ceremony.

“We love the Student News program here,” said Paul Lewis, news director for Fox 61 WTIC-TV. “It really gives middle and high school students a chance to see how much work goes into preparing a news report for broadcast. Even if these students don’t go on to become TV journalists, they learn to become critical news viewers.”

Some schools, such as Newtown High School, incorporate the detailed program into their curriculum, while others use it as after-school enrichment.

“The Fox 61 News program is the curriculum for my Video Production 2 class. The students love getting out of the classroom to go out on real news stories. We’ve even run into camera crews from other stations at our stories,” said Kerry Hrabstock, Newtown High School teacher. “So these days we always look beyond our school for something exciting to cover. And since our students have had some success with nominations and awards in the past, they’ve become competitive in trying to top each other with the best story ideas. They’ll go anywhere, as long as I drive.”

The following students from Newtown were nominated: Fox 61 Student News Outstanding Achievement Awards — “Penguin Plunge” packaged by Brian Silber, Jake Vogel, and Rob Krosky; “Cartoon Museum” packaged by Kevin Silber and Chris Morgan; “Sculptor” packaged by Matt Selezan and Scott Forstrom; The Hartford Courant’s Current Affairs Award — “Birds at Shepaug Dam” packaged by Jessica Rockwell; and “Cartoon Museum” packaged by Kevin Silber and Chris Morgan.