A near perfect broadcast by students leads to victory at Northwest Regional Emmy Awards
This was it.
The final chance.
Jaelyn Gaylor wanted it to go smooth. A senior at Columbia River High School, she wanted to present the best broadcast she could for the nominating committee.
She had only started directing earlier in the season, and now CR Sports was about to broadcast its final game of the year.
Up until then, every broadcast with Gaylor as the director had some sort of glitch, she said.
“I really wanted to see if I could submit something from our team,” Gaylor said, looking back on that night, working the Columbia River-Woodland district basketball playoff game. “This was our last opportunity. I really wanted to get that last shoot in, one without having technical difficulties.”
Gaylor had a headache that night. Like an accomplished athlete under the weather, her focus set in to do the job.
“It helped my instincts kick in,” she said.
Then the crew went the extra mile.
“My team entirely came through and did everything they were supposed to do,” Gaylor said.
On Saturday, the CR Sports team won an Emmy for that broadcast.
“It was extremely exciting. When I saw my name up there, I really couldn’t believe it. I never thought I could be a director let alone a student Emmy director for the Pacific Northwest.”
CR Sports won for best sports-live event in the high school production category at the 57th annual Northwest Regional Emmy Awards.
“We were screaming, yelling. It was joyous,” said Janine Blackwell, a teacher at Columbia River who runs CRTV. “When we did that particular production, everyone knew that it was a magical production. Everybody did what they were supposed to do. It just worked. We all knew that was our best work.”
Joining Gaylor on the team that night: Jordan Ryan, the announcer, Tarren Orr with graphics, David Ryan on instant replay, as well as three camera operators: Keegan Duke, Emery Leifeste, and Michael Ryan.
This is the second consecutive year CR Sports has won the category. Gaylor was a camera operator on last year’s winning team. Now, she is an award-winning director.
The experience has taught her so much about completing a mission.
“When it comes to a broadcast, or anything in this world, each member is an extremely important part to getting it done,” she said. “I relied on every single person. Every single job was so important. Parts that appear to be smaller still have a gigantic role in producing something you are proud of.”
Blackwell agreed.
“I can’t really say enough about how awesome these students are,” she said. “Every single one of them, just tremendous people. I know they will be able to achieve whatever dream they want in life. They are just great people.”
The CRTV and CR Sports organizations are full of talent. CR Sports also was nominated for one of its football games in the fall. And CR News was nominated under the category of television magazine.
