The Broadcast Education Association has named Vic Costello,
associate professor of communications, incoming chair of the
BEA Festival of Media Arts. He will serve a three-year term
beginning in April 2008, at which time he will also become an
ex-officio member of the BEA Board of Directors.
The BEA Festival of Media Arts is a national refereed
competition and exhibition for faculty creative scholarship.
The festival also serves as a showcase for student works in
broadcast and new media arts. Entries are accepted in the
categories of video, audio, interactive multimedia,
scriptwriting, documentary and broadcast news. A principal
goal of the festival is to recognize and reward the creative
activity of faculty by providing objective data for the
promotion and tenure process. Because of this, the
peer-review process for faculty submissions is rigorous, with
acceptance rates that are consistently equal to or better
than the top journals in the field of communications. Last
year, the festival received more than 550 entries.
The top
recipient in each of the 16 faculty and student categories
was awarded a $1,000 cash prize from the Charles and Lucille
King Family Foundation and professional video editing
software from Avid Technologies.
Since 2006, Costello has served as producer for the BEA Best
of Festival Awards Ceremony, which is held during the annual
convention. Prior to this, he served as a festival
competition chair for the Faculty Interactive Multimedia
Competition. Costello will become the third person to chair
the festival since it began in 2003. He will succeed Louise
Benjamin, associate professor in the Grady College of
Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of
Georgia. Don Godfrey, professor in the Walter Cronkite School
of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State
University, served as the first chair of the festival.