Ball State University has been nominated for 16 regional Emmy Awards, the most of any member organization of the Cleveland chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

A group of faculty, staff and students from Ball State's telecommunications department will attend ceremonies Sept. 18 at the Cleveland State University Convocation Center.

Nancy Carlson, chair of Ball State's telecommunications department, said setting a school record for Emmy nominations is an example of the program's status in the broadcast industry. Last year, Ball State received 10 nominations and was honored with six Emmys.

"The 16 Emmy nominations are evidence that the Ball State vision statement is coming to fruition. The telecommunications department is now a 'national model' for programs in news, film and entertainment," Carlson said. "The fact that our students' work is being nominated alongside the professional work at stations in Cleveland, Indianapolis and Toledo says something about the quality of the program here at Ball State."

In its first year of operation NewsLink Indiana, Ball State's news and information effort, received an Emmy nomination in the technical achievement category. NewsLink Indiana integrates the university's television and online news products with the existing Indiana Public Radio, a radio news network, and Ball State's student-run daily newspaper.

Terry Heifetz, a veteran television news producer and managing editor of NewsLink, said his organization submitted the nomination after building the newsroom, located in the Ball Communications Building, from the ground up.

"A lot of people put in a lot of hours to put NewsLink Indiana together," he said. "Very few news organizations are built from a simple idea and are fully operational within a few months. We started off with a blank slate, and we built an entire newsroom from sweat equity and student ideas."

NewsLink Indiana is funded through a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. The grant provided Ball State with $20 million to prepare students for creative, high-tech careers in digital communications.

Emmy nominations in various categories include: 

• Crafts: Director—Tape/film: "Outside," directed by graduate student Terry Marsh; "Cardinal Stage and Screen: Downtown Fairytale," directed by graduate student Arne Ahrens; and "Narrow," directed by Jaron Henrie-McCrea, senior from Indianapolis.

• Crafts: Videographer—Non-News: "John Zile/Gazoontite/SEE," directed by Henrie-McCrea.

• Crafts: Writer—Non-News: "Outside," by Marsh.

• Magazine Format Programs: "Connections," with Jill Siebert, a senior from Batesville, as executive producer.

• Special Programs: "Outside," with Marsh as writer/director; and "Cardinal Stage and Screen: Downtown Fairytale," with producers graduate student Kerstin Krieg and Ahrens, a former graduate student, and executive producers Beverley J. Pitts, Acting President of Ball State; Nancy Carlson, telecommunications department chair; Alice Cheney, WIPB-TV general manager; and Rodger Smith, associate director of Ball State's Center for Media Design.

• Feature/Entertainment Segments: "See" and "Yak to Shaq," produced by Henrie-McCrea; "Gary," produced by Kubek, a junior; and "Where a Grown-Up Can Be a Kid," produced by Jeff Cooney, a junior from Indianapolis.

• Technical Achievement: NewsLink Indiana with Timothy Pollard, project director; Tim Underhill, production manager; Jackson Faber, architect; and Cheney and Heifetz.

• Public Service Announcement:    "Figured You Might Want to Know" with producers Kenneth Loechner, a junior from Fort Wayne, and Anthony Kubek, a junior from Lansing, Ill.; and "Thanks for Sharing," with Loechner, who served as director, producer and writer.

• Student Productions: "Connections," with Siebert as executive producer.

The Emmy-nominated broadcasts were aired on WIPB-TV, Ball State's Public Broadcasting System station, or the university's cable access channels. 

The Cleveland chapter includes television stations in Akron/Canton, Cleveland, Dayton and Toledo, all in Ohio; Bloomington, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis and Muncie in Indiana; and Erie, Pa.

(Note to Editors: For more information, contact Carlson at ncarlson@bsu.edu or (765) 285-1489.)