SAN MARCOS (February 24, 2014) –Palomar’s Digital Broadcast Arts program ranked right alongside similar programs at four-year universities recently, winning third place in an international competition sponsored by the Broadcast Educators Association (BEA). The award is part of BEA’s annual Festival of Media Arts.

A segment of the television news show, North County News, produced by Palomar College student Zoya Popova, placed third in the in the Television Newscast (airing 3 days per week or less) category.  The winning segment aired May 7, 2013. Popova will receive a plaque in April at BEA’s annual convention in Las Vegas April 6 – 9.

Each of the other winners in the same category was from a four-year university
(St. Cloud State University, Minnesota; University of North Carolina; West Virginia University; and Minnesota State University Moorhead).

Pat Hahn, associate professor in Palomar’s Digital Broadcast Arts (DBA) program said,

“We see this as our own version of the Winter Olympics, in which one of our students is taking home the bronze for our team. I’m so proud of Zoya. She is proof that very hard work does pay off, and she is a perfect example of the type of student we see in Palomar’s DBA program. She proved to be the leader of her class — all the other students looked up to her. No stone was left unturned. She will become a professional TV News producer in the very near future.”

Popova, a Carlsbad resident, started at Palomar as an international student from Russia. As a winner in this competition, she will receive admittance into the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention in Las Vegas which runs concurrently with the BEA convention. Hahn said that “more than 125,000 broadcasters from around the world attend the NAB convention.”

Hahn said that North County News is cablecast to over 250,000 homes throughout San Diego. The show airs every Tuesday at 6pm on COX, Time Warner, and ATT on Ch 16.

 

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CONTACT:

Melinda Finn, Communications, Marketing and Public Affairs, 760-744-1150, ext. 2365
Laura Gropen, Director, Communications, Marketing and Public Affairs, 760-744-1150, ext. 2152
Pat Hahn, Associate Professor, Digital Broadcast Arts, 760-744-1150, ext. 2964