Winning a national award is a pretty big deal, especially when there are over 1,600 entries from across the country in the various categories. That is exactly what Sydni Stoffregen did. Stoffregen, a mass media major focused on television production, won the “Best in Festival” award in the Student Script Writing Competition for the 2023 Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Festival of the Media Arts.
Her screenplay, Nevermore, is a story about a mortician who becomes suspicious about the death of her husband and believes the family may have been involved in the death. The script is inspired by her love for murder mysteries and a family history of funeral directors.
Stoffregen wrote the script for COM 351: Advanced Writing for Mass Media, and was encouraged to submit her work by Professor John McHale, who received an award at the same BEA festival.
“Professor McHale gave me really good feedback and was really encouraging,” said Stoffregen. “He let us in the class know from the beginning that submitting to the festival was an option. I decided to send in my script because I knew it would be a good opportunity no matter what happened.”
Stoffregen submitted her script in the narrative feature category, in which she also received first place. She had not submitted any of her work before, so winning best in festival in the overall scriptwriting competition was unexpected.
“It feels very surreal. I didn’t know if I would win,” Stoffregen said. “I thought BEA’s festival was a good opportunity to share my work, but when Professor McHale told me that I won, I could not believe it. I am so happy.”
Stoffregen and other award winners have the opportunity to accept their awards in April at the Broadcast Education Association’s annual convention in Las Vegas. More information on the Festival of Media Arts can be found online.
