A documentary film created  and produced by a Monmouth College professor and a trio of his pupils has garnered major recognition from the Broadcast Educators Association (BEA).Chris Goble, lecturer in the department of communication and theater arts, and three students (seniors Holly Butz and Traci Ratliff and former MC exchange student Louise Murphy) are to be granted the Award of Excellence in the faculty documentary category of the BEA’s Festival of Media Arts.

The Festival of Media Arts is to take place during the BEA national convention in Las Vegas, Nev. on April 16-19, 2008, which Goble, Butz and Ratliff will all be attending.

According to Butz, “The main reason why we applied for this specific category was because this specific one was for students and teachers who work together.” The film, “Western Stoneware: The Molding of a Company,” was completed as the singular project for Goble’s Advanced Video Production course during the spring 2007 semester. “Western Stoneware” chronicles the turbulent, but ultimate prosperous history of Western Stoneware, a pottery company located in Monmouth, Ill.

The Award of Excellence, though not the highest prize given at Festival, is distributed to selected entrants in each category who have displayed exemplary skill deserving of acknowledgement by the BEA. Goble views this award as an important professional honor, stating, “It is put on the same level as [a professor’s] article being accepted into a juried, peer review journal. It gives us the feeling that we can do things that are on-par with other programs.”

For Butz, however, the travel and the experience are to be especially gratifying. Butz remarked, “I am stoked that it is in Las Vegas, because I have never been there before.”

The film premiered at Monmouth College on May 15, 2007 and was also featured in the first annual Keokuk Independent Film Festival this past fall in Keokuk, Iowa.

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