Bethel Students Nominated for Upper Midwest Emmy Student Production Awards
Four media production student teams from Bethel were recognized this spring as nominees for the 2023 Upper Midwest Emmy® Student Production Awards. Through its student production awards, The Upper Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences offers students from universities in the Midwest the opportunity to be recognized for their outstanding work on projects both on and off-campus.
By Marcus Dip Silas S'25
June 28, 2023 | 2 p.m.
It was a night to be celebrated as four media production team from the Department of Communication Studies were named nominees in various categories for their work at the 2023 Upper Midwest Emmy® Student Production Awards. The nominated students and categories were Peter Kraakevik ’23, producer in Non-Fiction for “gooder: DALL-E,” Carter Nelson and Amira Graf, producers in Commercial for “Lucky Shots Pickleball Club Promo,” Mild Du ’25 and Glasha Hovey ’24, producers in Commercial for “Bethel University Men’s Hockey Intro: 2022-23,” and Ellie McLaughlin ’24, producer in Commercial for “Carmen’s Flower Shop Promo.”
Kraakevik’s project centered around his YouTube channel called 'gooder' which focuses on understanding and doing things 'gooder.' “I like knowing a lot about a lot of things and so this channel is an excuse to do that and bring the audience along for the ride,” Kraakevik says. His first video was about A.I. generated art and learning model, Dall-E.
Nelson and Graf’s project was created for Lucky Shots, a Minneapolis based Pickleball club. "Creating a promotional video for a recreational sports club gave me the opportunity to learn more about the technical skills behind creative insight,” he says. Nelson also placed third in the Sports Promotional Video/Teaser/PSA category of the 2022 Broadcast Education Association student awards.
Du and Hovey’s project was created to celebrate the progress of the Bethel Royals Men's Hockey team, showcasing how the players move on ice. Du was responsible for creating the video effects and making sure each shot was perfectly synced with the background music and audio. The duo won the award for best college commercial, and they were also named first runner up in the 2023 BEA student awards for the same category.
Finally, McLaughlin worked on a promotional video for a floral designer in Iowa. “My biggest takeaway from this project is how powerful media production elements are in telling someone’s story,” McLaughlin says.
Professor of Intercultural & Media Communication and Department of Communication Studies Co-chair, Ripley Smith was excited to see the students receive recognition for their work. “I am very proud of our students and the high caliber of their technical work that has been recognized by the Midwest Region of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences,” he says.
“The Executive Director of the Midwest Region personally expressed how impressed he is with the sophisticated work by our Bethel students."
— Ripley Smith, department co-chairCreate with a purpose.
The Media Production major focuses on preparing graduates to navigate the ever-changing media culture within organizations, television, and online. Students build skills in writing for the media, broadcast journalism, web design/content creation, and editing and production techniques—using a state-of-the-art television studio. Our curriculum offers students a full suite of courses that range from organizational and interpersonal communication to media production and filmmaking.