When Ben Goldenberg first saw NewsWatch's coverage of the dedication of the Letterman Communications building last year, he knew it was good -- just not Emmy-winning good.
But the day Goldenberg, the producer of the Ball State University student broadcast in 2007, was handed an Emmy at the Sept. 13 award ceremony this year in Cleveland, the little-golden statue that stared back at him calmed his doubts.
"I was really, really happy with how the show came," Goldenberg said. "It was something we were really proud of. It was nice to be recognized for it."
NewsWatch, a 30-minute, entirely student-run news broadcast, won the Emmy for Best Student Broadcast from the Lower Great Lakes Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, which hands out the awards. NewsWatch was competing among all universities in the Cleveland and Indianapolis market areas in the contest. By the end of the process Ball State organizations were nominated for nine regional Emmys.
NewsWatch's Emmy-winning newscast won every competition it was entered in, NewsWatch's facility adviser Phil Bremen said. By the time the broadcast won the regional Emmy it already was named Best School TV Newscast by the Indiana Association of School Broadcasters and Best Student Newscast by the Indiana Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, Bremen said.
"Overall student programs in the category, it's unusual that a newscast won," Bremen said. "Newscasts have nightly deadlines that other shows don't necessarily have."
But, Goldenberg said the award-winning show had more time and attention because of its timing.
David Letterman's visit to campus fell on a Friday, a day NewsWatch doesn't run a nightly broadcast. The five teams from the student organization scurrying around campus that day provided a multitude of information for the award-winning broadcast the following Monday.
"The extra time and the extra teams really ended up paying off," Goldenberg, a current producer at WHAS-TV in Louisville said.
Bremen, who was a foreign correspondent for NBC News, said the Ball State student broadcast is top-tier.
"This was a really dynamite show we did," Bremen said. "I used to judge the contest. I have to tell you this is one of the best student broadcast in the country."
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