Campbellsville University mass communication students are in charge broadcasting the annual Athletic Awards Night, which will be held on Thursday, May 1. Pictured is Alex Meade, instructor of mass communication, helping his students with camera equipment during last year's event.
Campbellsville University’s Athletic Awards Night, which will be held Thursday, May 1, is one of the most important broadcast events at the university. This event brings together the most outstanding CU athletes and coaches of the year.
While these student-athletes are being awarded, the students of the mass communication department are in charge broadcasting the event.
Alex Meade, instructor of mass communication, highlights the importance of this event for students.
“It gives all the mass communication students a chance to be a part of a large production,” he said. “There’s some students that are doing it voluntarily, and there might be a few that are doing it for the CU Sports Network as part of their part-time job.”
According to Meade, this event gives real-world experience to his students.
“One of the biggest things is working as part of a large team. There are a lot of moving parts,” he said. “They have a little bit of extra pressure to make sure they get this right. We have a real audience.”
Meade also believes that, thanks to this experience, many of the students can focus on a specific area of journalism, such as videography, hosting, etc.
“Some people end up in roles that they may not be used to or may not have ever wanted. And afterwards, they’re like, oh, that wasn’t that bad,” he said.
As the hours pass and the broadcast is about to begin, Meade said many of his students begin to feel nerves due to the responsibility they have in their hands.
“It is such a big event, so there is a little bit of that shock to the system at the start,” he said.
According to Meade, it’s difficult to prepare the students for everything that could happen during the broadcast because every production is unique.
“We can try to do a little bit beforehand, but it’s more of you just have to handle it and figure it out in the moment when it happens,” Meade said.
Senior Nathan Whaley, who has worked this event the past three years, said the live broadcast environment helps students learn a lot about on-air events.
“I’ve loved my experiences working with Athletic Awards Night,” he said. “It feels like we’re doing an ESPYS style show.”
According to Whaley, working this type of event has taught him about all aspects of broadcast journalism.
“I’ve always wanted to be on-air and continually working events like this has helped me find more love for other positions around the production,” he said.
The CU Sports Information Department also plays a huge role in the production of Athletic Awards Night
“This is kind of our Super Bowl,” said Zak Wilson, the athletics video coordinator for CU Sports Information.
“We want to make the athletes feel super special.”
The CU Sports Information Department is responsible for all the logistics during the event, such as videos, graphics, photographs, etc.
“We do highlight video packages for all the nominees, photography and videography,” Wilson said. “Then each one of them get their own little graphic that goes up on the video board.”
Wilson said Athletic Awards Night is a great teaching opportunity for students interested in the field of mass communication.
“In my opinion, hands-on experience is the only way that you can learn,” Wilson said.
Besides being such a professional event, it helps students be better prepared when they graduate.
“They’re very multitask and leading different roles,” Wilson said. “I really do think that this event prepares them for that real world.”