RTF alumni nab seven Emmy Awards (six regional, one in Primetime!)

The accolades just keep on coming for Rowan’s department of Radio, Television & Film (RTF) and the latest are seven shiny Emmy awards for RTF alumni.

Six alumni won Mid-Atlantic regional Emmys during a presentation in September. Adam Chazen, a 2008 graduate, earned his third consecutive Primetime Emmy in August.

Regionally, Lisa White Gray, Steve Kwasnik, Pete Scaffidi, Rich Renner, Justin Kraph and Brian Dashefsky were recognized for a variety of work including a WHYY show about musician Melissa Etheridge, educational programming produced by a private media firm, and work on Comcast SportsNet.

Chazen has now been thrice honored for his work on the special effects team of the popular HBO show Game of Thrones.

 “For people who work in TV, an Emmy is the top of the mountain,” said Professor Ned Eckhardt. “Once again, we’re thrilled for Adam. The Mid-Atlantic region is also very competitive. It’s one of the nation’s largest and includes such major media markets as Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and New Jersey.”

Eckhardt, who this year celebrates his 35^th year teaching in the RTF rogram, said its graduates have earned 100 or more major awards during his tenure.

Gray, a 1984 alumna, is associate producer of WHYY’s On Tour, an award-winning music and performance program recorded live in and around Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey. The crew of On Tour also includes Kwasnik, a producer, and Scaffidi, a technical director, both from the Class of 1993.

Gray said the team earned an Emmy for a show about Melissa Etheridge in the Entertainment category but was also nominated for a show about blues-rock group Royal Southern Brotherhood in the same category. The program was also nominated in the arts category for an episode about Carolina Chocolate Drops, a North Carolina string band.

“As a team of three, we work well together,” Gray said. “It helps that we all had the same training in college, and we are all engaged in the work we do…   We go to around 26 concerts a year and hang out with rock stars.”

Gray (third from left, rear), Scaffidi and Kwasnik celebrate with other regional Emmy winners