Newsroom

ORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State University has earned two Telly Awards in an international competition honoring outstanding local, regional and cable film and video productions.

The College of Forestry received the Telly Award's highest honor - a Silver Telly - for the DVD "OSU College of Forestry: Getting the Big Picture."

A Bronze Telly went to the OSU Writing Intensive Curriculum Program and the OSU Center for Writing and Learning for their educational documentary film, "Writing Across Borders."

The Telly Awards, now in their 27th year, showcase the best work of the most respected advertising agencies, production companies, television stations, cable operators and corporate video departments in the world. Judges for the awards rank more than 12,000 entries annually. Winners have included Walt Disney Studios, Universal Studios Network and PBS.

The OSU College of Forestry production team was led by Debbie Bird McCubbin, director of student services, and Jeff Hino, director of the Forestry Media Center. The forestry DVD received highest honors for non-broadcast recruitment film or video.

"This is not just another careers-in-forestry documentary," Hino said. "We decided early on to emphasize the College of Forestry experience as seen through the eyes of students. They are the ideal college marketers to send a clear and compelling message to a young audience in their own words."

The piece follows forestry and natural resource undergraduates through a typical day at OSU - going to class, taking field trips, studying, working out, eating hamburgers and just having fun. It also highlights alumni on the job, forestry research, and an "all-professor" rock music video. An accompanying booklet details programs and opportunities within the college.

Copies of the DVD are available free from the OSU College of Forestry, 541-737-1594.

"Writing Across Borders" was written and directed by Wayne Robertson, assistant director of the Center for Writing and Learning at OSU.

Since its release in November 2005, the film has been used at more than 300 universities and has been nominated for the Outstanding Scholarship Award by the International Writing Centers Association.

The documentary is the result of a three-year project funded and developed by OSU's Writing Intensive Curriculum Program and the Center for Writing and Learning, said Vicki Tolar Burton, Writing Intensive Curriculum Program director.

"The film's goal is to introduce some of the major issues that teachers, writing tutors, and students need to think about when working with international students," she said.

"It includes interviews with many international students about how they were taught to write in their home countries and what rhetorical differences they must negotiate as they now write for their American faculty," said Lisa Ede, director of the Center for Writing and Learning.

The film also includes interviews with several English-as-a-second-language experts, including Deborah Healey, director of the OSU English Language Institute.

The film's purpose is not to provide easy answers, but rather to consider day-to-day practices in new ways by encouraging viewers to ask the following questions: How does culture play out in writing, and how are expectations shaped by cultural preferences? How can teachers fairly assess the work of international students when grading their writing alongside the writing of native speakers?

For information, visit the "Writing Across Borders" Web site at http://cwl.oregonstate.edu/wab. Copies of the DVD are available for $12.50 at the OSU bookstore: http://www.osubookstore.com.