Friday, April 25, 2008 -- Four Cal State Fullerton students have returned from New York, having won the 2008 FOX News Channel's "College Challenge," a national video news competition open to undergraduates from universities across the country.
Carla Franco of Los Angeles, Sabrina Johnson of Vista, Peter Martinez of Long Beach and Robert Moran of Pomona produced "SoCal Immigration: Law, Labor, Liberty," a news video featuring an interview with James Gilchrist, co-founder of the Minuteman Project.
Here is the on-air video of the award-winning team:
"I just had a feeling that all the pieces were coming together, and I knew that our video would surpass the judging criteria," said Martinez. "This is such a big opportunity for us to showcase the future of broadcast journalism and make our professor proud, while putting Cal State Fullerton in the spotlight as it celebrates its 50th anniversary."
The top prize they garnered is a $20,000 cash award — half of which goes to the team and the other half to the Communications Department for scholarships, grants or new equipment.
The students enjoyed an all-expense-paid trip to New York City, including spending money, and are being escorted there by assistant professor Foster. The students also were interviewed by FOX News for an unpaid or entry-level position with the network.
The FOX News Channel "College Challenge" was created to recognize, encourage and support excellence in broadcast journalism programs across the country. The contest is open to two- or four-person student teams from universities with bachelor degree programs in communications, broadcast journalism, journalism or their equivalent. Students could select from 12 designated topics as subjects for the videos, which could not exceed 3 1/2 minutes.