The eleventh annual SUNY Old Westbury Student Media Arts Celebration will be held in the Maguire Theater on Wednesday, May 2nd, 2018.

In 2007, communications professor Joseph Manfredi had an idea for a student competition to promote the talents of SUNY Old Westbury  students. He called it the MAC Awards which is an acronym for Media Arts Celebration. Professor Manfredi wanted this to be a truly objective awards competition, not influenced by teacher-student relationships at SUNY OW. “We designed the completion to be judged by industry professionals, so that the work of the students would be judged fairly and impartially,” he said. “I believe this makes our competition unique.” Professor Manfredi is assisted by other professors on campus, and students also volunteer their time to work on the awards presentation event.

Now in its 11th year, the MAC Awards feature student works in several categories including digital arts, TV/video, new media, print and radio. Almost 80 projects were entered in the various subcategories last year. The annual ceremony to present the awards is treated as a major event. “The nominees invite their friends and family to come and we even have a red carpet ceremony covered by the school TV station just outside the auditorium,” Manfredi said.

One of last year’s winners, Michelle Weinfurt, currently a senior, who won an award for best interactive project, explained what she did to create it.

“I had taken Professor Smith’s New Media in Action course, where I decided to create an interactive walking neighborhood pizza tour of pizza places along the south shore of Long Island. We went around and sampled all different kinds of pizzas, then created an interactive map where users could click on the location and get my input on the quality of the dough, what goes into making sauce, etc., and really focused on the craft of the pie which is what I called the project.”

Weinfurt believed that she had a good chance to win, as her professor liked her project and had encouraged her to enter the awards. “I thought I had one of the stronger entries but was still worried because I knew the quality of the work of my peers,” she said.

Weinfurt was happy that she won in her category, but did she detect any negativity from those who didn’t win? “Personally I didn’t,” she said. “In other categories I heard that some people were upset [at not winning], but the good thing about the MAC Awards is that professors are always encouraging students to make new work and apply every year so typically a student who applies one year will reapply the next year.” Professor Manfredi echoed her sentiment. “If there were [any bad feelings about not winning] I’ve never noticed it. Students are very excited just to be nominated and have their work on display. It’s a celebration for all those who participate,” he said. Weinfurt also said she will consider submitting a new project for this year’s award ceremony.

Keep up with #OWMAC news on The Catalyst or visit: macawards.org  This year’s MAC Awards show is on Wednesday May 2nd.