Recipients of the 2008 Eastman Scholarship and Kodak Faculty Scholars Programs were announced last month during the 62nd Annual University Film and Video Association Conference at Colorado College. The Gold Award for Excellence in the Craft of Filmmaking was presented to Marc D'Agostino from Temple University for his film Adam and Evan. D'Agostino received $5 000 plus an Eastman Product Grant valued at $5 000. The Silver Award went to Regent University's Mitchell Lusas for Order. Lusas received $4 000 plus an Eastman Product Grant valued at $4 000 and was also given an honorable mention by the judging panel for his cinematography on the film. The Bronze Award of $3 000 cash plus a $3 000 Eastman Product Grant was awarded to Erick Crespo for his film Rabia. Crespo is from Chapman University. Honorable mentions earning an Eastman Product Grant to the value of $2 000 were given to two Stanford University students: Charlene Music for her film Before the Sea and Meghan O'Hara for the title Color Film. The winning entries were judged by a panel led by William A. Fraker ASC BSC. Randy Tack Kodak's technical training specialist and cinematographer and Bart Weis president of the Video Association of Dallas and artistic director of the Dallas Video Festival along with a UFVA representative joined Fraker as judges. Assessment of the Eastman Scholarship is based on previous work submitted by the students recommendations from faculty and academic achievement. As part of the Eastman Scholarship Program the U.S. and Canada regional prize of the Kodak Filmschool Competition was also bestowed. This award recognizes excellence in cinematography and earns a $2 000 Eastman Product Grant plus a trip to the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. It was presented to Aonan Yang from Concordia University in Montreal for his work on the film Singularity. A faculty project that best cultivates a learning experience based on submitted proposals treatments and samples of work is also selected to earn the 2008 Kodak Faculty Scholars Program Award which went to Wenhwa Ts'ao for her film Nova. Ts'ao is from Columbia College Chicago. It's extremely rewarding to witness the difference these scholarships and awards can deliver to the career of a student or faculty member says Wendy Elms worldwide education segment manager for Kodak's Entertainment Imaging group. Kodak is passionate about encouraging an understanding of the value and honor attained in the pursuit of excellence. By helping the next generation of filmmakers shoot on film we can help them enhance their projects through image excellence so they may achieve the best possible result despite working with an often limited budget. Kodak www.kodak.com/go/education
