NEWS
NORMAN, OK – The Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication continues its path of excellence after winning nine awards at the 2024 Heartland Emmys.
Gaylord College students, faculty and alumni received awards at the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) where the college was nominated in 11 of the 16 total categories, walking away with 18 of the 34 total nominations. Among the winners were OU Nightly, who earned the award for Best Newscast, Storm Warnings Language Barrier’s Kevin Palomino for the category of News Report – Serious News and Magazine Program, and OU Nightly: Tracking the Storm team, who went up against another Gaylord College production Hell in the Heartland: 10 Years’s producer Courtney Armstrong.
"It's difficult to put into words just how proud I am of these student journalists and broadcast meteorologists,” said OU Nightly News Director Barbara Merckx. “They used the hands-on experience they have gained inside OU Nightly, and its corresponding sports programs, coupled with the guidance of two staff advisors to reach this level of achievement."
These achievements echo Gaylord’s ranking as one of the top overall media programs in America according to the Broadcast Education Association and the college’s film and video program is second to none.
OU also has gained ground over the last year in multiple areas, including its sports program that jumped up one spot and now ranks fourth in the nation. The college also improved in its documentary and scriptwriting programs, going from 14th to seventh and fifth to third, respectively.
The College showed its continued growth in its documentary program with an Emmy win for OU Nightly: Tracking the Storm, a twenty five-minute documentary special presentation detailing the collaborative work that went into the coverage for the two major tornado outbreaks in central Oklahoma during the spring of 2023. The documentary also featured
Gaylord College’s unique academic relationship with OU’s School of Meteorology and the minor in broadcast meteorology that gives future meteorologists real-world experience in live television news and broadcasting.
"’OU Nightly: Tracking the Storm’" was a special program that is result of one of the strongest partnerships on the OU Norman Campus between OU Nightly and the School of Meteorology,” said Merckx. “I can't begin to express the amount of work and care for storytelling on such an important topic went into this program. It is an incredible honor to see it receive such an award."
NATAS was founded in 1947 as a non-profit organization dedicated to recognizing outstanding achievement in broadcasting. The Heartland Chapter includes the states of Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma.
| Award | Work | Winners |
|---|---|---|
| NEWSCAST | OU Nightly 0/20/23 | OU Nightly Students & Staff |
| NEWS REPORT - SERIOUS NEWS | Storm Warnings Language Barrier | Kevin Palomino, Reporter (OU) |
| MAGAZINE PROGRAM | OU Nightly Tracking the Storm | Romelo Woodfork, Producer (OU) |
| MUSIC VIDEO | Out of My Mind | Christa DeBolt, Project Leader (Gaylord College) |
| FICTION - SHORT FORM/LONG FORM | A Post Production | Carson Sanders, Abigail Martin, Grace Mills (Gaylord College) |
| PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT (PSA) | Engineering with nature: Santa Fe | Jesse Hodgson & Georgia Bomar, Co-Owners and Co-Leaders (Gaylord College) |
| COMMERCIAL | 2023 OU Commencement Video | Sydney Nichols, Ravi Mody, Robert Harris, Andrew Kelly, Co-Leaders (Gaylord College) |
| DIRECTOR | Echoes | Allison England, Director (Gaylord College) |
| EDITOR | Uncovering Sports: Baxtar Holmes | Lisa Maslovskaya, Cinematographer/Editor (Gaylord College) |
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. OU was named the state’s highest-ranking university in U.S. News & World Report’s most recent Best Colleges list. For more information about the university, visit ou.edu.
The Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication continues its path of excellence after winning nine awards at the 2024 Heartland Emmys.
University of Oklahoma students Jaron Davidson and Olivia Mitchell, and recent alumnus Avery Stevens have received Fulbright U.S. Student awards for the 2024-2025 academic year from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Nikola Dragicevic, another recent alumnus, received a Fulbright U.S. Student award for the 2023-2024 cycle early this spring after initially being named an alternate.
One hundred and fifty-four University of Oklahoma undergraduate students eligible to graduate in May maintained a perfect 4.0 grade-point average throughout their academic careers at OU. Of the total, 72 reside in Oklahoma.
