2021 Visions Award Winners Announced
American University School of Communication (AU SOC) Film and Media Arts Division hosted the annual Visions Awards Ceremony on May 5. Celebrating 41 years, SOC’s Vision Awards honor outstanding visual student work from both graduate and undergraduate students, highlighting the best in documentary, fiction, digital and new media, screenwriting and photography. Award winners are listed below, or you can .
Assistant Professor Kyle(Kylos) Brannon welcomed the audience to the virtual ceremony. The event included a video tribute to Professor John Douglass, longtime director of the Film and Media Arts division, who is retiring from AU this year.
Brannon commented "I was impressed with the work that our students submitted, during this year of COVID and Zooming. The judges were impressed, and I can't stress how proud we all are of the work. Also, I would have been happy with a crowd of 25, so I was thrilled to have 100+ people join in for the ceremony!"
Professor Bill Gentile also recognized several students for special achievements outside of the Visions awards, including:
- Amelia Tyson and Jessica Marcy for winning this year's AU-Pulitzer Center International Reporting Fellowship for their proposal to produce a film in Guatemala about the role of religion in forced migration caused by climate change.
- Robert Boyd for receiving the very competitive National Geographic Storytelling Fulbright. A recent graduate, Boyd will receive storytelling training with the National Geographic Society and will be paired with a mentor drawn from the Explorer community and National Geographic staff.
- Mary Alice McMillan for receiving the Neel Foundation Fund award, which is supplying her with $3000 in finishing funds for her thesis film, Mapping Love, which also won the Visions award for graduate thesis.
VIsions 2021 Award Winners
Awards presented by Assistant Professor Laura Waters Hinson
Cinematography
Editing
Audio
Diversity & Inclusion
Photography Awards presented by Manager of Photographic Services Shaun Schroth
Photo Series: Documentary
Honorable Mention: Passing Time in the Early Pandemic by Madeline Mulkern
Winner:
Photo Series: Fine Art
Honorable Mention: At Home on 34 Beech Street by Isabella Feder
Winners: (tie)
Photo Portfolio
Winner:
Photo Single Image
Honorable Mention: Three Women by Courtland Sutton and Monumental Stance by Judith Kirkikis
Winner:
Ron Sutton Visual Literacy Awards presented by Professorial Lecturer Kim Llerena
Gabriella Allen
Tristan Au
Fatima Garcia Gonzalez
Screenwriting Awards presented by Adjunct Professorial Lecturer John Wieskopf
Undergrad Short Fiction
Nominees:
- Crier by Jasper Lesly
- Glory Quest by Julia MorganI’ll See You Again by Jhenna Liptak
Winner:
Grad Short Fiction
Nominees:
- Swipe Right by Kathryn Grossman
- Yaga by Kathryn Grossman
- Purple Box by Caroline Jeudy
Winner:
Feature Fiction presented by Associate Professor Claudia Myers
Nominees:
- Pullman by Courtland Sutton
- Dagon by Emily Nesha Streim
- Silver Tongues by Noah Cohen
Winner –
New Media Categories presented by Assistant Professor Kylos Brannon
Digital Image Manipulation
Video Mash-Up
Webseries
Animation & New Media Award presented by David Flood
Nominees:
- Stuck by Yusif Ziyadzade
- 11 Miles Down Title Sequence by Spencer TrinwithDreamscape by Yari Jamali
Winner
Video Categories presented by Assistant Professor and Assistant Dean of Experiential Learning Sarah Menke-Fish
Music Video
Nominees:
- INPUT/OUTPUT by Scout Pruski
- Weirdos by Lingyu Sun
Winner:
Undergrad Fiction
Nominees
- Trapped by Mara Shepherd
- Forgot Mom's Birthday by Paige Kaiser
- Silence With You by Allie Duke
Winner:
Undergrad Documentary (Winner of SONY Doc award)
Nominees:
- Hotline by Giorgio Citarella II
- Self Portrait by Maya Costanzo
- Metamorphosis by Cassidy Nelson
Winner:
Graduate Documentary (presented by Larry Engel)
Nominees:
- Soultarian by Danielle “Blue” Lawrence
- In Plain Sight by Robert Boyd
- Choosing Curiosityby Becky Lake
Winner:
Graduate Fiction Short
Nominees:
- lways With Me by Yari Jamali
- A Tardigrade Thank You by Robert Boyd
- Razor by Becky Lake
Winner:
Graduate Fiction Long (Winner of WILL Interactive Award)
Nominees
- The Sacrifice by Noah Pescara
- Compromise by Emma Kamara
Winner:
Graduate Thesis (Presented by John Douglass) (Winner of SONY Grad Doc Award)
Nominess
- Mapping Love by Mary Alice McMillan
- Faces of a [Redacted*] Diaspora by Asia Denise Nicholson
Winner: