NGU students bring home NRB awards
Emily Artus, Staff Writer
At the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) convention Feb. 23-26, North Greenville University students survived on caffeine and a passion for media.
The NGU NRB teams pose for a group photo. Photo Courtesy of Emily Gissendanner.
Three NGU teams placed in each of the following: digital video, digital news and audio production.
Shurajit Gopal, a mass communications professor and chair of the iNRB, explained how the hectic, 24-hour competitions work.
“Three weeks prior, we communicate with all the team members,” said Gopal. “And we send them the prep work. So if it’s a digital video, it’s producing a 4-7 minute movie and we will give away the theme.”
Once at NRB, the students are given a twist —such as a certain prop or line of dialogue— to incorporate into their projects minutes before the competitions begin on Monday at 9 a.m.
“They quickly develop a script,” said Gopal. “They do the shoot, they edit it and before 9 a.m. on Tuesday, they have to turn in the project.”
Torey Brown grabs a photo with Kevin Sorbo. Photo courtesy of Torey Brown.
The competitions are fast-paced, and the competitors fight fatigue to create quality projects.
“You don’t sleep,” said Kimber Henry, whose team placed third in the digital video competition. “You drink a bunch of caffeinated drinks. You go 24 hours straight.”
The conference, however, is about more than just competing. Students can network with other students and media professionals.
Senior broadcast media major Emily Gissendanner, who — along with her team— placed third in the digital news competition, created a news package about the importance of networking at the NRB convention.
“It’s really cool to meet people from all over the world and hear about how they’re using their talents to do different ministry-type things,” said Gissendanner.
Junior broadcast media major Victor Chasteen, who placed third in digital audio, said he enjoyed NRB’s Christ-centered atmosphere because media is normally dominated by secular influences.
“It was really cool to go into a place where everybody was there talking about different forms of media,” said Chasteen. “And it was all for the same reason about spreading the message of the Gospel.”
The NGU team poses onstage at NRB. Photo courtesy of Torey Brown.
Another perk of NRB is attending the variety of keynote and general sessions.
Elizabeth Neslen, a freshman broadcast major, volunteered with NGU’s team, and she attended a few of the convention’s sessions.
“The one I went to was ‘How to Start a Podcast,’” said Nelsen. “And the other one was ‘How to Keep Your Content Interesting.’”
The NRB convention offered sessions covering topics from media ministry to print media, explained Nelsen.
Keynote speakers included Eric Metaxas, Kevin Sorbo and Anne Graham Lotz.
