About 400 electronic media students from Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky were on the Ohio University Southern Campus Friday for the annual Student EMPixx Awards.

The awards are a way of sparking competition in high school media students, said Don Moore, an assistant professor of electronic media at OUS.

Awards were presented in several categories including animation, digital photography, and news. The students also took advantage of mentoring sessions with several professionals from the area.

Howard Miller, an Ironton native who works at ESPN, Bobby Thomas, former OUS student and winner of the Peabody Award, and Carrie Cline from WSAZ were among the presenters.

Thomas works for Video Law Services, a company that, among other things, produces settlement documentaries that demonstrate damages suffered by lawsuit plaintiffs.

“It’s a different way of looking at video production,” Thomas said.

One of the main objectives of the EMPixx awards is to give students ideas about what they can do with their talents, Moore said.

“(I hope the students leave with) a greater understanding about the media industry and how diverse it is,” Moore said. “It’s not just television, it’s law firms, hospitals and production houses. There’s a lot of opportunities that students may not see.”

Fairland High School student Andrea Holler won second place for her feature story on Little Victories.

“It feels really good,” the junior said. “ It’s always exciting. Last year my group and I won first place in the Independent category.”

Fairland has been sending students to the event since its beginning in 2000.

“(The students) get really excited every year for this competition,” said Amy Lewis, who teaches video production at the school. “I think it’s a good experience that gives them an idea of what their peers are doing.”

Ironton High School students won second place in the Multimedia Web category. The competition is a motivational tool for the students, teacher Ron Ross said.

“I’m always pleased (with how the students do each year),” Ross said. “I love teaching it and they love learning it and we have a really good time.”

2010 EMPixx Winners

Animation

First Place – “Zom-B Attack” – South Point

Second Place – “Showdown” – Lakewood Local

Audio Production

First place – “All you got by Jeremy Wolfe” / Collins Career Center

Second place – No winner

Digital Photography

First place – “Shannon’s Photo Project”/ Lakewood Local

Second place – “Pittsburgh Pix” / Lewis County

Entertainment

First place – “Float on” / Wilmington

Second place – “Starts with One” / Wilmington

Independent

First place- “Jeffula: in detention” / Western

Second place – “Victor the Vampire” /Southeastern

Multimedia print

First place – “Trojan head” / Portsmouth

Second place – “Be inspired” / Portsmouth

Multimedia Web

First place – Travel Planet / Collins Career Center

Second Place – Travel Planet Webpage / Ironton

Newscast

First place – FLS News /Fairland

Second place “News cast” /Chillicothe

News Feature/Story

First place- ‘Poston Restoration” / Fleming County

Second Place- “Little Victories” / Fairland

Radio Commercial

First place – “8 hr. Energy” / Collins Career Center

Second place – no winner

Sports News Feature

First place – “Turf Wars” / Lewis County

Second place- “FHS Baseball” / – Fairland

Video Commercial

First place – “Geri-Juice Energy Drink” / Wilmington

Second place “Rave Juice” / Lakewood Local

Judges’ Choice – “Science Fair” /Collins Career Center

Best of Show “Photography” / – Jefferson County JVS