Instructor Todd Bowie has always known that the students in his event production class produce excellent work. This past year, that excellence was recognized by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Assocation, which presented them with three awards during the spring 2024 semester.
“It’s kind of a big deal,” Bowie said. “It’s a great thing for their resume, it’s an official thing within the state, and they should be proud of that work.”
Their awards were:
• First place in Special Programming (TV) for “Songwriting with Beth Kille: Writer’s Life Lecture Series.”
• Second place in Live Special (TV) for “Innovative Future: The 7th Annual Embrace Fashion Show.”
• Third place in Informational/Educational/Corporate Production (TV) for “MCTV-Live.”
Now he’s hoping those achievements will push them to an even higher level.
He said his students were “very excited” about winning the awards, initially, though Bowie was unsure whether to enter. Nancy Stillwell, a speech and journalism instructor at Madison College, had several of Bowie’s students in her On-Air Performance class and knew some of the projects his Event Production class was working on.
“I had a good feeling about the work the students were doing for Todd’s class,” Stillwell wrote in an email. She’d long been associated with the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association and was familiar with the award categories due to her role as a contest manager at a previous school.
She thought they had a “very strong chance” of winning some awards and even paid for the entry fees.
“That’s how much I believed in them,” Stillwell wrote.
Bowie said that thanks to Stillwell, they were recognized for their work.
Bowie said an awards ceremony was held at Lambeau Field, and while he wanted to find a way for his students to attend, they weren’t able to secure transportation.
“I wish that the school just had a little bit more funding for us for that kind of stuff,” Bowie said. He’d like his students to have a future presence at those awards.
In the Event Production class, Bowie tells them what is needed ahead of time for a show and then it’s up to the students to plan it out. He says when it comes time to do they show it’s a “student director, student technical director, student talent, (and) student camera people. I’m just kind of like in the back” if anything comes up he says.
Receiving the awards made Bowie realize just how good the work they do is.
“I always just try to do good work,” Bowie said. “Everything’s in focus, everything’s clear, the cuts are nice, it feels like a real show… we always try to do that, but I’m trying to push us just a little bit more.”
The awards have changed how he approaches his curriculum.
“It already has changed it because I want more,” he said with a laugh. “I want us to be cutting edge.”
He plans to expand the MCTV programming.
“We’re going to have a couple musical guests, we’re going to have a host who is kind of more like a late-night host (with) a monologue,” said Bowie. The show will include a “weekend update” news segment where the host can be seen in different backgrounds and will include moving lights.
Lucas Aldrich, a student who was in the Event Production class that semester said winning the awards made him feel good. He fell in love with video production after having the class in high school and is graduating from the Video Audio Design program this year.
For future students he said, “My best advice is to just do stuff. Keep making projects even if they’re not assignments. I found that the most I learned is by doing projects whether they be self-initiated or for assignments.”
One of his self-initiated projects came from wanting to test out a new camera. His wife had an inside joke with her family about someone stealing her Hawaiian Punch beverage, so he set up the lights and did a mock interview with her about it, just to test out his new camera. “We made it all like sad and dramatic, but honestly that was one of my best-looking shots that I did” and it’s now in his portfolio. “Even silly, one-day projects can have a lot of merit to them,” Aldrich said.
“It’s great to see them walk on their own,” Bowie said. He doesn’t expect them to know everything after going through his classes, but he wants them to know enough to be able to get a job within the field. “That’s when they’ll really start learning,” said Bowie. “That’s when their learning will really excel.”