By ANDREW GOUDSWARD
Staff Writer
Nine students and Broadcast Club adviser Jennifer Cornine returned from the Student Television Network trip last month with three national awards.
The group won second place in the Sweet 16 Film Competition and in the Sweet 16 Broadcast News Competition. The group also won the first and only first place award in the Weather Reporting category
Student delegates included juniors Brian Murphy of West Long Branch, Julia Hummel of Neptune, Carly Ferreira of Manalapan, Rachel Belli of Tinton Falls and Nicole Swenerton of Wall and seniors Bryan Scuteri of Manalapan, Andrea Massaro of Oceanport, Meghan Kaltenbach of Freehold and Mike DiGioia of Manalapan.
For the film contest, the group had 16 hours to create a film entitled, “What Goes Up Must Come Down,” using a prop picked by the organization– a yo-yo.
In the broadcast category, the group had the same amount of time to put together a 16-minute newscast centered on the word “elevation.”
For the weather broadcast, Swenarton and Belli were required to report that a hurricane was about to strike the shoreline.
“In addition to the contests where the students won awards, the film team also entered the movie trailer and music video competitions where despite their hard work, they didn’t win any awards,” said Cornine. The Broadcast team also competed in feature reporting and anchoring.
For the Sweet 16, the teams competed together and in small groups or individually for the specific categories.
“I wouldn’t say that we had roles or jobs,” said Massaro. “We all directed, wrote, acted and edited at some point during the process.”
“Everyone does a little of everything when the group is that small,” Scuteri said of the film team. He helped write the scripts for the Sweet 16 film and movie trailer. Massaro also worked on the Sweet 16 film and movie trailer. Scuteri, Massaro and fellow competitors were picked to go on the trip through “a highly competitive process,” according to delegate Brian Murphy.
About 40 students, all with an interest in television or film, applied and nine were selected.
“We all turned in our entries on time, and we’re all proud of what we produced,” said Massaro. “We had fun doing it.”
“In almost every competition, we were in the Top Ten,” said Scuteri. “For a team of nine kids from New Jersey, that’s awesome. There are a lot of great schools, and it was great to be among them.”
The delegates also had some down time, attending a film festival and dance-carnival.
“We went to Universal Studios the first day, went out to eat together, and enjoyed the pool and warm Florida weather,” said Massaro.
“Although it was stressful at times, I think everyone had a good time,” said Cornine.