The Illinois winners of this year’s National Student Television Awards, known as the “Student Emmy Awards,” include:

* Highland Park High School, Highland Park, Ill. for Arts & Entertainment, Cultural Affairs for “What’s On Your Screen,” a weekly program that reviews pop culture television and events and is seen at the school and on YouTube.com. Primary applicant is Cyrus J. Toulabi. Faculty Advisor is Chris Derfler.

* Chicago Vocational Career Academy, Chicago, Ill. for Technical Achievement for “The Last Stain,” the story of two “small time stick up” kids who question whether hustling is really worth their lives. Primary applicant is Tracey Preacely. Faculty advisor is Roger Badesch.

The Chicago/Midwest NATAS Education Committee is chaired by Board of Governor Carole Cartwright. Other recipients are Blue Valley Schools Broadcast Technology, Overland Park, Ks., for News for “Olga: Growing Up in America,” the story of a Belarusian child who blossoms while growing up in her adopted country; Team BCVI - Boyne City High School, Boyne City, Mich. for Documentary for “Mythbusters - The Myth You've Heard a Thousand Times...,” a program that spoofs the popular Discovery Channel series, “Mythbusters” and was telecast on the Discovery Channel’s parody special; Lake Gibson High School, Lakeland, Fl. -- the Hubbard Family Public Affairs/Community Service/Public Service Award for “Depression Awareness,” a series of three public service announcements on teen depression, Amherst Steele High School, Amherst, Ohio for Sports for ‘Girl Among Boys- A Three Part Series,” a different look at sports as girls challenge boys, and Germantown High School, Germantown, Tenn. for Writing for “September 11th, 2001: The Story of NABE and AUBER,” a compilation of accounts from various economists who attended a conference at the World Trade Center Marriott on 9/11 and escaped the terrorist attack.

“This year’s competition has exceeded our expectation on every level,” said Av Westin, Executive Director of The Foundation and a veteran ABC News and CBS News producer/executive. “The production values this year were very high, approaching professional grade while the journalism and storytelling was compelling and technically excellent. The student’s work is credit to them, their teachers and the schools that support their television curriculum. The National Television Academy is proud to honor them.” Productions covered a diversity of topics from teenage depression to the delightful story of a Belarusian child growing up in America to a look at the lives of several 9/11 survivors, Now in its fifth year, the National Student Television Awards for Excellence is part of the National Television Academy’s nationwide ongoing commitment to educating the next generation of broadcast journalists and promotes “best practices” to high school producer/writer teams by using a curriculum based on two books by Mr. Westin. An award-winning producer himself, Westin has won six Emmy Awards, three Alfred I. Dupont-Columbia University Awards, two George Polk Awards, four Peabody Awards and the Albert Lasker Medical Journalism Award.

The National Student Awards for Excellence winners were selected in a two-step process with judges first naming regional winners in each of the National Television Academy’s 19 chapter regions. From these regional winners, the seven national winners were chosen by a blue ribbon panel from the television industry (many multiple Emmy Award winners) and academia, including two former executive producers of network news magazine programs; a former executive producer of an arts and entertainment magazine series; a former network news senior producer; a former network field producer; a network documentary producer; a network technical manager and technical director; a post-production technical director and long-form editor; a former producer of sports personality profiles; a university professor of journalism and four previous recipients of the National Student Television Award for Excellence. Student producer/writer teams from around the nation submitted entries in seven categories: News; Arts & Entertainment, Cultural Affairs; Documentary; Public Affairs/Community Service/Public Service; Sports; Technical Achievement; and Writing. All entries were originally broadcast, cablecast, or webcast within the eligibility period from February 1, 2006 to January 31, 2007.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO VIEW THE WINNING NSTV VIDEOS IN EACH OF 7 CATEGORIES, PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK: http://www.nationalstudent.tv/2006-2007_student_videos.asp