Video Produced by UC San Diego
Wins a National ‘Telly’ Award

July 2, 2009

By Pat JaCoby

A video produced by UC San Diego to introduce the campus to prospective students and families, “The Gateway to Your Future,” has won a national 2009 Telly Award in the education/academic category.

The 10-minute video was written and produced by Tom Johnson and Martha Hart of Admissions and Relations with Schools and filmed by Jerry Hara and crew from Diamond Production Group. It was selected for a Telly Award from among 13,000 nationwide entries.

Richard Friley, judging panel chair, said a prestigious panel of more than 40 accomplished industry professionals evaluated and judged each entry on the basis of creativity and quality.

Founded in 1979, the Telly Awards are the premier distinction honoring outstanding local, regional and cable TV programs, the finest film and video productions, and groundbreaking web commercials, videos and films. This year’s winners include companies, agencies and organizations of all sizes, from large multinational media companies and agencies to local production houses, Friley said.

Discussing the work involved in making the video, Hart said “we took advantage of some beautiful weather and the enthusiastic participation of a couple dozen students, faculty members and administrators. We did lots of retakes when planes would fly overhead; we went through a couple of bottles of hairspray to deal with ocean breezes, and rewrote lines on the spot.” Filming covered most of five days on campus.

Mae Brown, assistant vice chancellor/director of Admissions, said “It’s a great overview for prospective students and their families. We show the video at the beginning session of each campus tour, reaching about 40,000 people annually.”

The video can also be seen on the UC San Diego Admissions website, http://admissions.ucsd.edu.

The Office of Admissions will receive a “Telly” statuette, similar to those awarded to Oscar and Emmy winners.

Media Contact: Pat JaCoby, 858-534-7404 or pjacoby@ucsd.edu