The high school’s StingTV journalists won two trophies last weekend at the annual Rocky Mountain Emmys.
The awards recognize the work of outstanding high school and undergraduate college students while incentivizing them to pursue careers in journalism.
Students submitted work to the program for the first time in 2024, taking home two Emmys for their daily newscast and a Hollywood-themed prom commercial. This year, the students were again recognized for the daily newscast as well as for a public service announcement called “Dear Students.”
With submissions from over 500 schools, film and television teacher Cory Lange said he was happily surprised his students earned 14 Emmy nominations and two awards this year.
“It's validating in a lot of ways, because just like the Emmys you're going to see here with your big, top networks, it's voted on by the peers,” he said.
Hayden Hatch was one of 15 students to attend the awards ceremony in Phoenix. She and many of the other students said the experience has inspired them to make even better programs.
“It was definitely a really big motivator to see, like, what we go up against, and to be like, ‘oh, maybe I can beat that,’ or ‘maybe I can change what I've already done to be better,’” Hatch said.
Violet Robinson said it was just fun to be there.
“It was so cool getting to, like, actually go to a real award show, and like seeing other nominations, and like, kind of feeling like important,” she said.
The students said they put in a lot of work to make StingTV. They are behind all the writing, directing and producing. And unlike many high school broadcasts, their news show airs live every day during second period.
The 10-minute show includes calendar events, important school news, administrative messages and a live interview with an athlete or teacher.
Cory Lange’s daughter, Alison Lange, said she and other students put in extra work to create promotional videos and live-stream Wasatch High School sports games.
“We put in so much work every single day, and even after school and throughout the week, like, we're always putting in work,” Alison Lange said. “So many of us are motivated to get it done every day.”
While a sports broadcasting course didn’t make it to the high school’s class list this year, Alison Lange and her classmates want to improve their sports broadcasting skills. Hatch said they want to try to produce a pregame talk show before live-streaming games.
Cory Lange said while not all his students will pursue a career in journalism, they each get something out of the class.
“The benefit of this class is that growth, learning how to push yourself, work uncomfortable and be a team,” he said. “The football team gets to practice all week, it has a game on Friday night. We have to be in front of the public every single day, you have an hour to make it happen.”
And the broadcasting classes are popular — Cory Lange said there are over 80 students in the program. Many join because their siblings, who attended before them, recommend the classes.
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