TV-10, the School of Communication’s student television station, honored eight students at its recent broadcast banquet. Christy Stelzer, a Broadcast Journalism major from Johnsburg, Illinois, won the TV-10 Founder's Award. This award is given to an outstanding senior in the TV-10 program who shows exceptional commitment to the field of broadcast journalism, along with excellent potential to succeed. It is presented in honor of Jeff Hawkinson, TV-10’s News Director when the first newscast aired March 4, 1974. Stelzer has completed five semesters at TV-10, starting as a weathercaster, then working as a reporter, producer and anchor, in both news and sports. Last summer she completed a news internship at WLFI-TV in West Lafayette, Indiana, and is currently doing an internship for WMBD-TV Peoria, handling all reporting duties for the Bloomington-Normal bureau one day each week. Stelzer has also worked on the news and sports staffs of ISU’s student-run radio station WZND and has worked part-time at Bloomington’s WJBC radio since December.

A new award this year is the Outstanding Senior in Athletics Production. This award recognizes a graduating senior who has demonstrated exceptional talent and service to TV-10’s newest venture, crewing live sports events at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum along with ISU’s Redbird Arena and Hancock Stadium. The inaugural winner is Kayla Larson, from Paxton, Illinois. Larson has been working on the crew since its inception in 2006, running all positions, including camera, replay, graphics and director. Larson has also been a photographer and editor for TV-10 News, working a wide variety of
assignments, most notably covering Normal Community High School’s 2006 State Championship football game AND Illinois State University’s first-round playoff game on the same day. She recently traveled to West Lafayette, Indiana for the ISU Women’s Basketball Team’s NCAA Tournament appearance. She is the current president of the Student Television Workshop, which creates additional programming and videos.

Two other graduating students were also presented Outstanding Senior awards. Matt Zickus of Elgin, Illinois, is the Outstanding Senior in Production. Zickus has worked five semesters at TV-10, as a photographer, editor, studio crew member and director. This year he is TV-10’s Chief Photographer, taking on a mentoring role with newer students and also handling some scheduling duties. He has been a key member of the Athletics Production crew and was hired last fall to travel with and create videos for the ISU Football Team. He also worked part-time for WMBD-TV in Peoria for one year as a weekend sports photographer. Zickus’ work has been honored multiple times by the Illinois Broadcasters Association and the Illinois News Broadcasters Association.

The Outstanding Senior in Journalism is Blake Long, from Jacksonville, Illinois. Long has been at TV-10 for three semesters, as a reporter, producer and anchor. He recently covered the Illinois primary election and flooding in Pontiac. Since March, he has been working part-time producing the weekend newscasts at WHOI-TV in Peoria and will have a full-time producing position there when he graduates in May.

All award winners’ names will be added to plaques in the TV-10 Newsroom. Also at the banquet Most Valuable Player awards were given to junior Chip Brewster for Journalism and to junior Kelly Lambert for Production. Outstanding Newcomer awards went to sophomore John Venerable for Journalism and junior Jeff Wagner for Production.

TV-10 produces a live, daily newscast for the Bloomington-Normal community during the fall and spring semesters. The newscasts air at noon each weekday on Comcast Cable Channel 20 and Campus Cable Channel 5.