SVG/NACDA Honor Best in College Sports Video During 10th-Annual College Sports Media Awards The 2018 CSMA ceremony touched on importance of storytelling and relationships By Karen Hogan Ketchum, Senior Editor Thursday, May 31, 2018 - 9:15 pm
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The Sports Video Group (SVG) and National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) joined forces on Thursday night to honor the best in college-sports-video production during the 10th-annual College Sports Media Awards, sponsored by Ross Video.
More than 400 entries were submitted for consideration in five categories (Live Game Production; Live Non-Game Production; Program Series; Special Feature; and Promotion, PSA, Tease, or Marketing Campaign) across four divisions (National Networks, Regional/Local Networks and Production Companies, Collegiate Athletics, and Collegiate Student).
Hosted by NCAA.com and Big Ten Network's Andy Katz, the CSMA ceremony capped Day 1 of SVG's College Sports Summit at the Omni Hotel in Atlanta. Katz kicked off the ceremony with a reflection on the importance of relationships, a theme that would factor prominently throughout the evening. In addition to advising the many students in attendance on building trust with your sources, making sure that you're dealing in the truth, and making sure that you're fair, he encouraged everyone to embrace new ways of telling stories.
You've all done a phenomenal job of adapting with the current technology, said Katz. It's something that those in my generation and above [are finding]: if you don't get on this train, you're certainly going to be left behind. I want to commend all the great work that we're going to see tonight, because there's so much great storytelling and great work that's going on out there. I think the media is far from dead; I think we're thriving, it's just in a different form.
KSU, UCF, Texas Tech Take Home First-Time Honors
The CSMA stage is particularly exciting for first-time winners, and this year's edition was no exception. Kennesaw State University, located less than 20 miles from the Omni Hotel, took home its first pyramid, in the Outstanding Program Series category, for its series The Hoot.
Clemson University's Rick Bagby accepting the SVG College Pioneer Award
It's an honor to receive this award on behalf of the other students that I used to work with at KSU, as well as our staff, said Jeremy Walts. We had a unique challenge in the first couple years that I was a student at KSU and then working as a contractor: we didn't have football, so how do we build a culture? I want to thank our athletic department and my immediate boss, Matt Sims, for giving us as students a lot of freedom. It's an honor to receive this on behalf of KSU, and it was an honor to help build that program over the last few years.
UCF and Texas Tech also notched first-ever wins, in the Outstanding Program Series and Promotion, PSA, Tease, or Marketing Campaign categories, respectively.
Longhorn Network, Ball State, St. Cloud State Continue To Dominate
No strangers to the CSMA stage, Longhorn Network took home three statues this evening in the Regional/Local Networks and Production Companies division and secured its spot atop the all-time CSMA leaderboard, with 16 awards.
Texas A&M's Andy Richardson accepting the SVG College Technology Leadership Award with his 12th Man Productions team
Over the past seven years, Ball State Sports Link has earned top Collegiate Student honors in the Outstanding Special Feature Category six times and took home its ninth pyramid tonight. Tyler Bradford was quick to pay tribute to the instructors of Ball State Sports Link, including Senior Director, Digital Sports Production, Chris Taylor, last year's SVG College Pioneer Award recipient.
At Ball State, we're very fortunate to have resources and people in place that are invested into features, invested into storytelling, and that starts first and foremost with our instructors, said Bradford. Although, by title, they are professors and directors, I think we would align the term friend, brother, and mentor. They're the ones that put together opportunities for us, who foster chances to learn. They're the ones that, when we have an idea, say, Let's do it.'
St. Cloud State also took home its ninth pyramid in the 10-year history of the CSMA, for its production of Husky Faceoff in the Outstanding Live Non-Game Production category.
Auburn, BYUtv Secure Three-Peat
For the third year in a row, Auburn University's War Eagle Productions and BYUtv won the CSMA for Outstanding Live Game Production in the Collegiate Athletics and Regional/Local Networks and Production Companies Division, respectively.
Mikel Minor, who accepted two statues for BYUtv during the ceremony, reflected on his career in live sports production.
I love this category, he said. This is where I got my start in this business, sitting in a TV truck doing live events, so it's near and dear to my heart. The really cool opportunity about working at a university is the ability to pay it forward to young people that are just getting into this industry, to see how excited they get about working nights, weekends, and holidays and loving it, and loving the fact that you can orchestrate something like an overtime game and going off-script. That's the adrenaline rush of this business.
All About the Storytelling
At its core, the CSMAs are all about great storytelling. From the Collegiate Athletics division all the way up to the National Networks division, all honorees paid tribute to the subjects of their stories and to the relationships that helped them tell those stories.
CBS Sports Coordinator Producer Craig Silver accepted the award for Outstanding Live Game P
