Celebrating the Best of Festival King Foundation Award Winners

On August 12, we held a celebration to honor the 2020 “Best of” Festival winners. While nothing can replace our traditional live event in Las Vegas, we were able to showcase them and their work, learn more about their projects and what they are planning to do next. We were also treated to the surprise reaction of Ken Wyatt after he received the Chairman’s Award for best overall faculty entry. Congratulations to all of the 2020 Best of Festival King Foundation Award winners! We have posted the video of the event below for those who were unable to attend and links to each Best of Festival highlight below.

WEEK 1 | June 8 – 14 

Watch a congratulations message from Festival Chair Sara Magee: https://bit.ly/2Cfxt6f  
Student Film & Video Competition (Narrative Category)  

Parker Bohner, Madalin L. Stenzel, Lorenzo Phrasavath & Emily Netburn, University of Florida; The Lead  (to see the full video, click here) 

Faculty Film & Video Competition 

Keir Politz & Jonathan Mason, Rowan University; Entropia (Narrative Category) 

WEEK 2 June 15 – 21 

Watch a congratulations message from Festival Chair Sara Magee: https://go.aws/30L00Lw  

Student Sports Competition 

Connor Nichols & Luke Astle, Ball State University; The Comeback Kid: Nick LaVanchy (Television Sports Story/Feature Long) 

Faculty Sports Competition 

Ken Wyatt, East Carolina University; Blood, Sweat, and Tears: Jake Gaither, Florida A&M, and the History of Black College Football (Short Form Sports Video) 

WEEK 3 | June 22 – 28 

Sara Magee’s Week 3 congrats message: https://bit.ly/2D9CWMs  

Student Scriptwriting Competition 

David Hyland, Palm Beach Atlantic University;  Virtuous Enigma  (Original TV Series Pilot) 

Faculty Scriptwriting Competition 

Matt Webb, Huntington University; Sleepwalker (Feature Category) 

WEEK 4 | June 29 – July 5 

Sara Magee’s congrats message: https://bit.ly/2AeonGl  

Student Television News Competition  

Jordan Elder, Arizona State University;  Powering a Nation, Cronkite News, Jordan Elder  (TV News Long Feature) 

Student Radio News Competition 

Melissa Duenas, University of Southern California ;  How Chamorros in the Diaspora are Taking Back Their Culture  (Radio Feature Reporting) 

WEEK 5 July 6  12 

Watch Sara Magee’s congratulations message: https://bit.ly/38yWoy4  

Student Interactive Multimedia and Emerging Technologies Competition 

Uprooted Staff, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Uprooted: The Faces of the Venezuelan Crisis (Multimedia Storytelling) 

Faculty Interactive Multimedia and Emerging Technologies Competition 

Ed Youngblood, Auburn University;  Domestic Violence Intervention Center Website  (Website) 

WEEK 6 | July 13 – 19 

Watch Sara Magee’s congratulations message: https://bit.ly/3iumW7Y  
Student Audio Competition 

Nour El-Tobgy, The American University in Cairo;  The President Jailed my Grandfather  (Audio Category (International) 

Faculty Audio Competition 

Don Connelly, Western Carolina University ;  Haulin’ Radio Waves  (Radio Station Promo, PSA, Commercial) 

WEEK 7 | July 20 – 26 

Watch Sara Magee’s congratulations message: https://bit.ly/2Z1t5Rn  

Student Television Newscast Competition 

Noah Kelly, Arizona State University;  Cronkite News Nov. 7, 2019  (TV Newscast: 4-Days or More) 

Faculty Television News Competition 

Mike Castellucci, Michigan State University ;  Coffee House Concert  (Television Feature News Reporting) 

WEEK 8 | July 27 – August 2 

Watch Sara Magee’s congratulations message: https://bit.ly/2Z5wNt6  

Student Documentary Competition 

Chad Veal, Brendan Wallace & Ethan Leeper, Taylor University ;  20 Over  (Micro Documentary) 

Faculty Documentary Competition 

Sangsun Choi, Malone University;  Written in Stone  (Short Form Documentary) 

https://go.aws/2N45pF2

WEEK 9 | August 3  9 

Watch Sara Magee’s congratulations message: https://bit.ly/3kavjGz  

Student Film & Video Competition (Animation/Experimental/Mixed) 

Alyssa Alley, Alexa Bland, Kesmine Hickman & Sarah Wickenhauser, Huntington University Arizona ; Tobeus & Toby 

Two-year College Competition 

James Dymond, Los Angeles City College ;  Blue Lapse  (Narrative) 

WEEK 10 | August 10 – 16

Introducing the Best of Festival Show open/trailer – August 10

Best of Festival King Foundation Awards Virtual Celebration – August 13 at 4:00 pm ET