As a child, did you ever practice your signature for hours, or scribble down a speech expressing your gratitude, in the hopes that one day you would be a famous actor or actress accepting an honorable award, such as an Emmy?

Although the chance of actually becoming an actor or actress is slim, part of your childhood dream is still within reach. By getting involved in your campus’ student media organizations, such as SUTV, you have the chance to win a National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) Student Production Award at the Mid-Atlantic Emmys.

Recent 2016 graduate, Holly Harrar, experienced this honor first- hand Saturday, Sept. 24, as she walked into the 2016 Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards a NATAS nominee, and walked out a NATAS award- winner. Harrar’s SUTV clip, “Inclusion in Action: GMU life,” took first place in the NATAS College and University category, Public Affairs/Community Service, against a piece by Temple University.

“I was hopeful going into the night because I had a 50/50 chance of winning,” Harrar said, “but it still came as a shock because normally Ship gets beat out by D1 schools like Temple.”

Harrar submitted approximately three pieces for the NATAS student awards in 2015, and only two this year, because the $30 submission fee per piece submitted comes from SUTV’s budget, and it begins to add up very quickly. This monetary constraint compels SU’s media organizations to analyze potential submissions closely before selecting the best pieces to be submitted.

However, between the two pieces that Harrar submitted this year for consideration, the winner, “Inclusion in Action: GMU life,” was particularly special to her. With a major in communication/journalism and a minor in disability studies, she attempted to merge her two passions into one.

In doing so, she traveled to George Mason University and reported on a disabled student’s personal experience with the university’s inclusive program, Mason LIFE. The newscast reaffirmed that the program succeeds in including rather than excluding young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities by providing them with a supportive academic environment and supplying them with an apprenticeship.

The experience of winning a NATAS Student Production Award was rewarding in many aspects for Harrar. However, she emphasized the importance of remaining humble and bringing the recognition back home to those who made the current success in her life possible, especially her alma mater, Shippensburg University.

Harrar is still in search for an opportunity to get her foot in the door of the competitive media market.

“Finding a job in media is hard, because I will most likely have to move away to where the job is,” Harrar said, “but I am optimistic about the future.”

Harrar encourages individuals, interested in broadcast and all other forms of media to not be afraid of submiting their work for awards such as the NATAS Student Production Award, and the print media equivalent, the Keystone Press Award.

“These awards give students an opportunity to go the extra mile and put Ship back on the map. Although you may fail at first, it is important to keep trying,” Harrar said. “I wasn’t ready to start submitting when I first started at SUTV, but knowing that people before me won an award motivated me and made me realize that in a year or two, that could be me.”

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